The Washington Post is reporting, "Last year, lawmakers in Texas forced through legislation that amounts to a frontal assault on the state’s abortion providers. More than 40 clinics around the state performed the procedure legally and safely when the law took effect a year ago. Today fewer than half of those clinics are still in business in a state where the population has more than doubled over four decades .

"Many of the surviving clinics are expected to close this fall as the law’s second shoe falls — a requirement that forces the clinics … (into) buying new equipment, widening corridors, installing men’s locker rooms. Few can afford to absorb those costs.

"According to pro-choice groups monitoring the situation, Texas may be left with just six clinics by the end of the year, none in sprawling rural areas …

"The new requirements have nothing to do with improving women’s health or enhancing the safety of clinics....  Nor do they apply to clinics that perform dental, periodontic, cosmetic or other outpatient surgical procedures. The regulations pertain only to abortion clinics, and their sole purpose is to burden the clinics with expenses that force them to shut their doors.

"In Texas, as in other states, the incidence of abortion has fallen steadily in recent years for an array of reasons, including legislation that has forced out providers. Nonetheless, more than 70,000 women received abortions in Texas in 2011 — about 14 percent of those who became pregnant.

"…(In) the nation’s second most populous state, Roe v. Wade has been effectively undone by the legislature."

Deb Gaber