FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2014
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Today, two reproductive-health clinic closures were announced in rural Texas, as a result of Texas House Bill 2, disproportionately affecting low-income women in the south and east of the state. These were the only clinics in East Texas and Rio Grande Valley.
“The closure of Whole Women’s Health clinic is a tragedy for women in Texas and indicative of the cost when we allow politicians to use deceitful back-door tactics to rob us of our fundamental rights,” said Ilyse Hogue, NARAL Pro-Choice America President. “The majority of Americans support a woman’s right to choose the health care and reproductive options best for us, yet anti-choice lawmakers have run rough shod over that sentiment and now are endangering the lives of the state’s most vulnerable women. While it is our hope that this bill will be overturned, this situation is a painful reminder of why we need federal legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act to ensure that the Constitution and women’s rights, regardless of where they live, are respected.”
“Safe, legal options for women in need of abortion care are now nonexistent in south and east Texas, and that is no accident,” said Heather Busby, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. “Anti-choice lawmakers knew exactly what they were doing when they pushed for the abortion restrictions in HB2 and these clinic closures are exactly the result they were seeking.”
A survey from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project found that 7-percent of women who were seeking abortion care reported trying to self -abort at some point during their pregnancy.
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