Via TPM, news that a federal judge in Texas has overturned the draconian anti-abortion law Wendy Davis filibustered last June:
District Judge Lee Yeakel wrote Monday that the regulations violated the rights of abortion doctors to do what they think is best for their patients and would unreasonably restrict a woman's access to abortion clinics.
Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers brought the lawsuit, arguing that a requirement that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic would force the closure of a third of the clinics in Texas. They also complained that requiring doctors to follow the Food and Drug Administration's original label for an abortion-inducing drug would deny women the benefit of recent advances in medical science.
The Texas attorney general's office argued that the law protects women and the life of the fetus. Attorney General Greg Abbott was expected to file an emergency appeal of Yeakel's order to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
As Jeffrey Toobin notes in the segment with Jake Tapper, these laws are all heading for the United States Supreme Court, which is worrisome. The right wing is intentionally pushing the envelope on abortion with a goal to overturn Roe v. Wade. This case looks like it's heading down the fast track to that place, too, especially since the 5th Circuit is notorious for supporting right-wing legal causes.
Text of Judge Yeakel's ruling is here.
