Austin, TX — Today, the Senate will debate a set of targeted restrictions on abortion providers (TRAP) bills designed to take away a woman’s access to safe and legal abortion. If passed, women across Texas would suffer from another instance of politicians overreaching into the exam room. Nearly all women’s health centers that provide safe and legal abortion services would be forced to close or rebuild completely–effectively eliminating access for hundreds of thousands of Texas women and virtually banning abortion statewide.
“We all want to keep women safe. But this legislation is not about protecting women’s health or safety — it’s part of Governor Rick Perry’s plan to end safe, legal abortion in Texas.” said Melaney A. Linton, CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, referring to Senate Bill 5. These unconstitutional bans on a woman’s access to safe and legal abortion in Texas are an eleventh-hour effort by politicians in Austin to undermine women’s access to health care. During Regular Session, politicians filed more than a dozen bills restricting access to abortion and none passed. Nevertheless, Governor Perry is once again playing politics with women’s health by forcing this issue onto the fast-tracked agenda for a Special Session–a Special Session that is supposed to be focused on important state issues of transportation and redistricting.
“Medical experts agree that these types of restrictions do not increase patient safety,” said Linton. “This legislation is an attempt by politicians to interfere in a woman’s personal health care decisions, and will end up eliminating or significantly limiting a woman’s access to safe and legal abortion.”
Abortion services are among the safest and most heavily regulated medical procedures in the country with a very low risk of complications. And, health centers that provide abortion are subject to oversight by multiple state and federal agencies (including licensing boards, health departments, human services divisions, and others).
Leading medical providers and professional associations in Texas and across the country oppose these laws, including the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) . These restrictions “would represent a significant step backward for the health status of Texas women,” wrote Dr. Lisa M. Hollier, MD, MPH, FACOG, Chair, Texas District American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in her testimony before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee during Regular Session.
The 117 pages of regulations include medically unnecessary requirements of hospital-style operating rooms, and specific dimensions for hallways and recovery rooms. Medical experts agree that restrictions like this do nothing to enhance patient health and safety. In Texas, this provision could dramatically reduce access to safe and legal abortion in our state by leaving only five health centers providing safe and legal abortion remaining statewide.
If passed, these TRAP bills would result in the closure of multiple health centers outside of a few major cities and would have a devastating impact on women living in most areas of Texas. Women’s health advocates fear that passage of the bill will compound Texas women’s health crisis.
Texans agree–standing between Texas women, their doctors, and their personal medical decisions just isn’t the priority for a Special Session that’s supposed to be focused on redistricting and transportation issues. Within 48 hours of Governor Perry’s call for abortion legislation, more than 2,400 Texans signed a petition calling on legislators to stop playing politics with women’s health and focus on the real issues facing Texas.
In last week’s Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing women’s health advocates donned 1960s “Mad Men” style garb to illustrate that Texas politicians were going to turn the clock backward on women’s health in the state if these politicians had their way. Said one supporter, Shelby Alexander, “If this looks backwards,” she said, referring to her outfit. “I ask [legislators] to look at the bills they filed.”
“Texans don’t want politicians playing doctor,” said Linton. “It’s outrageous that politicians are once again threatening Texas women’s access to a safe and legal medical procedure. We are counting on our legislators to show real leadership by defeating these latest attacks on women’s health.”
Excessive regulations are already in place in Texas, far exceeding what is necessary to uphold patient health and safety at health centers that provide safe, legal abortion. Health centers providing abortion must have a licensed physician and nurse on staff and must follow rigorous reporting requirements of the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) for each and every abortion procedure.
Background Facts:
FACT: At a rally at the capitol in January, Governor Rick Perry said he wants to make abortion “a thing of the past” in Texas. Planned Parenthood identifies Senate Bill 5 as part and parcel of that strategy.
FACT: Abortion providers already adhere to standard medical regulations to ensure patient health and safety. The sole purpose of targeted restrictions of abortion providers (“TRAP”) is to make abortion inaccessible to women by imposing excessive, medically unnecessary and sometimes impossible-to-meet restrictions on providers. If enacted, this legislation could reduce the number of health centers providing safe and legal abortion in Texas from 42 to five.
FACT: Women’s health experts point out that bills like Senate Bill 5 do nothing to enhance patient health and safety. David Grimes, former chief of abortion surveillance at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says of bills like Senate Bill 5: “These kinds of regulations do nothing to advance women’s health. All they do is drive up the cost of care and cause women to delay, which drives up the risks.”
FACT: Ted Joyce, a professor of Economics at Baruch University, evaluated the impact of a similar 2004 bill requiring health centers to meet excessive and medically unnecessary regulations. According to his research, “The effect was immediate and dramatic.” Upon enactment in January 2004, the average distance for a woman to travel for some abortion procedures increased from 33 miles to 252 miles (Coleman, S., Joyce, T. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 30, No. 4, 775–797, 2011).
FACT: Planned Parenthood represents a small percentage of abortion providers in Texas. In fact, 75% of abortions in Texas are performed by other providers. As part of a political vendetta, politicians are endangering providers and health care access for women across the state. And tragically, this has happened before. When the 2011 Legislature slashed two-thirds of the funding for the state’s family planning program, more than 55 health centers across the state shuttered their doors. Only 14 of these were Planned Parenthood health centers. If passed, this bill would have devastating consequences for women across the state, virtually banning abortion in Texas.
FACT: Planned Parenthood insists on the highest standards of patient care and has rigorous safety guidelines in place. Planned Parenthood’s medical standard and guidelines are informed by the most trusted medical knowledge as well as professional and scientific organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the United States Preventative Services Task Force, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
For more than 75 years, Planned Parenthood has been Texas’ most trusted nonprofit provider of reproductive health care.
