A clinic worker at Houston Women’s Clinic indicated, “No, sir, as of right now, the clinic is completely closed.”
When asked if the clinic will continue to provide abortions, an employee of Austin Women’s Health Center said, “We’re waiting to hear from our legal representatives. But for now, no.”
A worker at San Pedro Abortion Services Center, a branch of Planned Parenthood, told The Texan, “(The reversal of Roe v. Wade) impacts our ability to provide abortion … to protect our patients and staff, we are pausing abortion services.”
Another clinic, Houston Women’s Reproductive Services, also indicated it has ceased abortions and will not dispense abortion-inducing medication.
In an address to the nation on Friday, President Joe Biden stated that the federal government will continue to protect the right to travel out of state for the purpose of procuring abortion, an act the reversal of Roe v. Wade does not affect.
The president also stated his administration will continue to make an abortion-inducing medication, Mifepristone, “available to the fullest extent possible.”
The reversal of Roe stemmed from Dobbs v. Jackson, a controversy over a Mississippi state law that prohibited abortion after 15 weeks of fetal development.
Justice John Roberts issued a concurring opinion in favor of the State of Mississippi, but indicated he would not have overturned Roe. The remaining five justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Neil Gorsuch, composed the majority to strike Roe.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton provided guidance on Friday regarding the Human Life Protection Act of 2021, which makes killing an unborn child a first-degree felony and subject to civil penalties of up to $100,000. Pregnant mothers cannot be prosecuted for procuring an abortion.
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Hayden Sparks
Hayden Sparks is a senior reporter for The Texan and a lifelong resident of the Lone Star State. He has coached competitive speech and debate and has been involved in politics since a young age. One of Hayden's favorite quotes is by Sam Houston: "Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may."
