Some Texas abortion clinics closed
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The doors at the Whole Woman’s Health clinic were closed Friday.
And that’s the way they likely will stay — indefinitely — at the far west Fort Worth clinic that provides abortion and other services.
“Lets hope and pray this is where it stands,” said Teresa Johnson, a Keller woman who stood outside the clinic, as she does every week, to pray for women and the end of abortion.
The doors to this clinic and at least eight others throughout the state were closed in the wake of a federal appeals court ruling late Thursday that allowed the bulk of the state’s new abortion restrictions to go into effect immediately.
“This is heartbreaking for us on so many levels,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and president of Whole Woman’s Health. “Women who need our care will now have nowhere to turn and the staff and physicians in our clinics now face furlough and likely unemployment.”
Whole Woman’s Health closed the doors Friday not just at the Fort Worth clinic, but also at clinics in McAllen and San Antonio. Workers locally and at the Austin headquarters spent much of Thursday night and Friday morning calling patients and canceling appointments.
“It is a sad and dark day for women in Texas; we have regressed backwards about 30 years,” Miller said. “Of course Whole Woman’s Health will continue to advocate for women and providers throughout Texas and be a leader in the challenge to to this ruling all the way to the Supreme Court.”
Conversely, Kyleen Wright called the latest court ruling a victory for women.
“I’m feeling that women are going to be safer, they are going to have better doctors,” said Wright of Mansfield, president of the Texans for Life Coalition, who helped push for this legislation. “This has been a hard fought battle and we know we aren’t finished yet, but this is an important victory.”
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