HB2 is doing exactly what it was intended to do.
A new report released Thursday shows Texas abortion patients traveled farther for services and experienced higher out-of-pocket costs following the closure of more than half of the state’s legal abortion providers in 2014. The closures came after the implementation of parts of Texas’ omnibus anti-abortion law, HB 2, which is currently being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thursday’s is the latest report from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP), a University of Texas research group that studies the long-term effects of Texas’ omnibus anti-abortion law and other changes to reproductive health funding and policies. TxPEP surveyed 398 women who sought abortions between May and August of 2014, when all but 19 abortion clinics in Texas were closed. Researchers then compared the experiences of two groups: women whose nearest clinic closed after HB 2’s admitting privileges requirement first took effect, and those whose nearest clinic didn’t close.
Women whose nearest clinic closed (38 percent of the 398 surveyed) ended up traveling an average of 85 miles for their abortion, while those whose nearest clinic stayed open (62 percent) traveled 22 miles. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the national average distance traveled to an abortion clinic is 30 miles.
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Researchers found that 32 percent of women whose nearest clinic closed reported spending more than $100 in out-of-pocket expenses to access abortion because of extra necessities, such as transportation, overnight accommodations, child care, and also lost wages from taking time off work. Those expenses were added to the cost of the procedure itself.
Either the “undue burden” standard – which Anthony Kennedy authored – means something, or it doesn’t. If this law doesn’t violate that standard, then we may as well admit that it means nothing. I continue to hope that the good Anthony Kennedy will be there for this one. Newsdesk and Think Progress have more.