Kansas has long been a frontline in the abortion wars, so it isn't much of a surprise that anti-abortion crusaders there have pioneered one of the newest tactics for limiting access to legal abortion procedures: developing onerous regulations that specifically target clinics. And this strategy—which could lead to shutting down all of the state's abortion clinics by the end of this month—is being embraced by abortion foes in other states as a way to end abortion in practice if not in law.This is how it works: anti-abortion legislators pass what are often called "TRAP" laws, or "targeted regulation of abortion providers." That is, regulations that only apply to abortion clinics, setting compulsory standards that are often difficult to meet, like mandated sizes for waiting and recovery rooms, reconfiguring of exits and entrances to facilities, and additional bathrooms. In Kansas, abortion providers last week were handed a long list of new regulations and told they must comply by July 1. Virginia and Utah have signed similar measures into law this year, joining states like South Carolina and Indiana that have previously targeted providers with stricter regulations, and a number of other states have been considering bills like these.
Americans United for Life, one of the largest national anti-abortion groups, has been urging its supporters to pass similar measures in their own states. When the Arkansas state Senate advanced such legislation this year, AUL praised the measure for its "unique pro-life protections."
Elizabeth Nash, a public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, notes that though TRAP laws aren't new, they are now being used to place increasingly more strict and disruptive regulations upon abortion clinics. "There is quite a bit of momentum behind restricting access to abortion," says Nash. Sharon Levin, vice president and general counsel at the National Abortion Federation, a group that represents abortion providers around the country, notes that they have seen a lot more of this type of legislation advanced this year. "These are really politically motivated laws," says Levin. "These laws have nothing to do with patient safety."
In Kansas, the state legislature passed its TRAP law in April, which created a new licensing category for abortion providers. But the state didn't issue the final regulations until June 17, and then gave the clinics just two weeks to comply with the new rules or potentially be denied a license to operate. A staffer at one of the three remaining abortion clinics in the state told Mother Jones that the new rules would require it to dramatically expand the size of its waiting and recovery rooms, as well as the janitor's closet, and would be impossible for the clinic to comply in its current office. (As we've reported before, it can be very difficult for abortion providers to find new offices—especially in Kansas.)
The Kansas TRAP law also requires all doctors working at the clinics to have admitting privileges (or standing approval from a hospital to directly admit patients) at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. Obtaining that permission is a process that typically takes 90 to 120 days—a barrier impossible to surmount before the state's July 1 deadline. Abortion providers question the need for this regulation, since less than 0.3 percent of abortion patients have a complication that requires hospitalization, and clinics can still refer women to a hospital for care without the doctor at the clinic possessing admitting privileges.
Full Article
Source: Mother Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment