Fifth Circuit Hears Arguments on Texas TRAP Law

Bloomberg: Texas Claims Abortion Restrictions Don’t Pose Burden, by Daniel Lawton & Laurel Brubaker Calkins:

A Texas law restricting abortions which would leave open only seven or eight clinics doesn’t place an undue burden on women’s rights, a state official argued in a bid to enforce a law previously ruled unconstitutional.

Texas asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans today to let it require that abortion clinics meet the same construction standards as outpatient surgical centers while the court considers its appeal. A lower court threw out the law as unconstitutional. Opponents argued that enforcement of the overturned law would cause more than a dozen clinics to close overnight. The three-judge panel didn’t immediately rule on the Texas request. . . .

NPR:  A Doctor Who Performed Abortions In South Texas Makes His Case, by Wade Goodwyn:

In a Brownsville family clinic, a powerfully built, bald doctor treats a never-ending line of sick and injured patients. He has been practicing for nearly four decades, but family medicine is not his calling.

"For 35 years I had a clinic where I saw women and took care of their reproductive needs, but mostly terminating pregnancies," Dr. Lester Minto says.

He seems an unlikely doctor to perform abortions. The son of an Army officer, he grew up in a deeply religious family in rural Texas. His career path was shaped by an experience in medical school in the early '70s.  . . .