While high above the earth’s atmosphere from Planet Waves’ TOH (Terran Observatory Hovercraft) it was my pleasure to witness as two state courts overturned restrictive anti-abortion laws in Texas and Oklahoma in quick succession.
On Monday, Oct. 28, federal Judge Lee Yeakel ruled that SB 5 was unconstitutional. SB5 was the highly controversial law that would close most of the health facilities statewide that provide abortions and other health care services for poor women and their families. The law was to go into effect 2014.
In Yeakel’s ruling on the case Planned Parenthood V. Abbott, he found the law “violated the rights of abortion doctors to do what they think is best for their patients and would unreasonably restrict a woman’s access to abortion clinics.” Gregory Abbott, the “Abbott” who lost in the case against Planned Parenthood, is Texas’ Attorney General who is running for governor against Texas state senator Wendy Davis.
Davis, as you recall, staged a successful 13-hour filibuster against SB 5, preventing it from being brought to the floor for vote before midnight of June 25, the last day of the legislature’s special assembly. Its failure to be passed forced Texas Gov. Rick Perry to call yet another special session of the legislature to vote on it, ensured of its passage by the legislature’s Republican majority.