Majority of remaining Texas abortion clinics likely to close after court ruling

Dallas Morning News: 5th Circuit Court Lets Texas Enforce Abortion Rules; More Clinics Likely To Close
A federal appeals court Thursday allowed Texas to immediately begin enforcing tough new abortion restrictions that will effectively close all but seven abortion facilities in America's second most-populous state. A panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans stayed a lower judge's ruling while it considers the overall constitutionality of key portions of Texas' sweeping 2013 abortion law, which Republican Gov. Rick Perry and other conservatives say is designed to protect women's health (10/2). 

The Wall Street Journal: Texas Can Enforce Law On Abortion, Appeals Court Says
All but seven abortion clinics in Texas are faced with the prospect of closing after a federal appeals court ruling Thursday that allowed a restrictive provision of a state abortion law to take effect. The law, enacted last year, includes a provision requiring abortion clinics to qualify as "ambulatory surgical centers"-;a standard currently met by only seven clinics located in the state's five largest cities. At that time, the state had about 40 abortion facilities (Koppel, 10/2).

The New York Times: Appeals Court Ruling Closes 13 Abortion Clinics In Texas
Thirteen abortion clinics in Texas will be forced to close immediately after a federal appellate court sided with the State of Texas in its yearlong legal battle over its sweeping abortion law and allowed the state to enforce one of the law's toughest provisions while the case was being appealed. The decision by the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, will have a sharp and urgent effect on abortion services in Texas, lawyers for abortion providers said (Fernandez, 10/2).

The Associated Press: Appeals Court Lets Texas Enforce Abortion Limits
A federal appeals court Thursday gave Texas permission to fully enforce a sweeping abortion law signed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry last year that would effectively close all but seven abortion facilities in America's second-most populous state. Two years ago, Texas had more than 40 abortion facilities. Many clinics have already closed under a part of the law requiring doctors who perform abortions to obtain hospital admitting privileges, and now more than a dozen remaining clinics are set to shutter as well (Weber, 10/2).

USA Today: Appeals Court Lets Texas Enforce Law That Restricts Abortions
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals stays a lower judge's ruling and allows Texas to put into effect restrictions that were part of its abortion law passed last year and pushed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry. The Texas' attorney general's office called the decision "vindication'' for the Texas law, which Perry and other Lone Star conservatives say is designed to protect women's health. The Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion rights group that challenged the Texas law, denounced the decision and said it was considering legal options (Welch, 10/2).

Los Angeles Times: Most Abortion Clinics In Texas Must Close After Appeals Court Ruling
Nearly two-thirds of the abortion clinics remaining in Texas must close immediately after a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the state may enforce a law that requires those facilities to be built to the same standards as hospitals (LaGanga, 10/2).

Bloomberg: Texas May Enforce Abortion Restrictions During Appeal 
Texas can immediately enforce strict building-code regulations that an Austin judge ruled in August would sharply limit access to abortion in wide swaths of the second-largest state while doing nothing to improve patient safety. Similar legislation has been challenged in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, and the U.S. Supreme Court may have the final word on the validity of the laws. The Texas law, one of more than 200 abortion restrictions adopted nationwide since a Republican-led, state-legislative push began in 2011, was passed in July 2013 after Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis staged a filibuster that made her a national figure and propelled her campaign for governor (Calkins, 10/3).

And in an effort against a similar law in neighboring Oklahoma -

Bloomberg: Oklahoma Doctor Sues To Block New Abortion Restrictions
An Oklahoma doctor sued to block enforcement of a law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, saying it would force him to close his practice accounting for almost half of the state's abortions. Larry A. Burns, who provides first-trimester abortions at his clinic in Norman, Oklahoma, alleged in a complaint filed today in state court in Oklahoma City that the new law set to take effect Nov. 1 would significantly reduce access to services. ... Burns said Oklahoma's law violates the state constitution and asked for an order blocking health officials from enforcing it. The law imposes "unique burdens" that other health-care providers in the state are not subject to, the doctor said in the complaint (Smythe, 10/2).