Texas Abortion Law Unconstitutional: Judge Rules Against New Legislation

Texas' new abortion laws have been overturned before they even came into effect. CBS reports that Federal Judge Lee Yeakel ruled against the abortion restrictions passed by Texas legislature claiming they are "unconstitutional." Yeakel wrote that the new regulations demeaned the rights of abortion doctors as to what they think is best for their patients and would "unreasonably restrict a woman's access to abortion clinics." Planned Parenthood's lawyers brought the lawsuit forward, claiming that a reuqirement that a hospital must be within 30 miles of an abortion clinic would lead to the closure of 30 percent of Texas clinics. They also complained that requiring doctors to follow the FDA's original label for an abortion-inducing drug would deny some women benefits from recent medical advances.

Texas' new abortion laws have been met with fierce opposition by pro-choice advocates, despite the Texas' attorney general's office claim that the law protects women and the life of the fetus. In what has been called a "stunning move" by NBC, Yeakel wrote that the law "[does] not bear a rational relationship to the legitimate right of the state in preserving and promoting fetal life or a woman's health and, in any event, places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus and is thus an undue burden to her." Attorney General Greg Abbott is expected to file an appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The ruling comes just four months after Democratic Representative Wendy Davis' stunning 13-hour filibuster which stopped the law from going through back in June. The marathon speech forced Governor Rick Perry to order a second special legislative session for the Republican-dominated Legislature to pass the law. Davis released a statement saying "as a mother, I would rather see our tax dollars spent on improving our kid's schools rather than defending this law."