People on both sides of the abortion debate are gearing up for a crucial hearing Thursday at the Texas Capitol. The Senate Health and Human Services committee on four bills that would likely make it harder to get an abortion in Texas, after Governor Perry on Tuesday to the special legislative session.
includes provisions to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and require that doctors who perform abortions have at a hospital within 30 miles. The 20-week provision is also contained in , which is before the committee. requires that women who receive the abortion drug RU-486 receive it in a clinic from a doctor. And would make abortion clinics follow the tighter guidelines of .
At least ten other states have approved measures to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, The landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade ruled that a woman is entitled to an abortion until a fetus is "viable," which was defined as .
In May, a federal court that aimed to limit abortion to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Wednesday, a U.S. House Committee approved a similar ban, .
Joe Pojman with the anti-abortion group supports all four Texas bills. While he would like to see abortion outlawed, Pojman says the measures are intended to protect the health of women.
鈥淚t is incumbent on the legislature to do whatever it can do to regulate abortion to make it as safe a procedure as possible," Pojman said.
Blake Rocap with the abortion rights group says if the bills become law, it would force most abortion clinics in Texas to close.
鈥淚t would deny women access, and they would be stuck in a position of being taken advantage of by non-physicians looking to make a quick buck off their desperate circumstances," Rocap said.
The state Senate hearing on the abortion bills is scheduled to start Thursday afternoon at 3:45, and will be .
