Texas may not restore lost abortion clinics despite ruling

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Long wait times for abortions and lengthy drives to clinics are likely to continue in Texas for months and maybe years despite the U.S. Supreme Court striking down restrictions that since 2013 have drastically reduced the number of providers statewide.

Texas lost more than half of its 41 abortion clinics in the three years since former Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed a sweeping anti-abortion law that justices largely dismantled in a 5-3 ruling Monday. The decision amounted to the Supreme Court's strongest defense of abortion rights in a generation and could imperil similar restrictions in other states.

The Texas laws required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery. But even with those mandates now gone, Planned Parenthood and others providers are not yet making promises about breaking ground on new facilities in Texas.

And any openings, they cautioned, could take years, meaning that women in rural Texas counties are still likely to face hours-long drives to abortion clinics for the foreseeable future.

Buildings need to be leased. Staffs need to be hired. Clinics must still obtain state licenses and funds for medical equipment must be raised. Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled Legislature is all but certain to remain hostile to abortion providers that try to expand.