AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Long wait times for abortions and lengthy drives to abortion clinics are likely to continue in Texas for months and maybe years despite the U.S. Supreme Court striking down restrictions that drastically reduced the number of providers statewide.
Texas lost more than half of its 41 abortion clinics in the three years since former Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed a sweeping anti-abortion law that justices largely dismantled in a 5-3 ruling Monday.
The decision amounted to the Supreme Court’s strongest defense of abortion rights in a generation.
The Texas laws required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospital-like standards. But even with those mandates now gone, Planned Parenthood and others providers aren’t yet making promises about opening new facilities.
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