Planned Parenthood, Center for Reproductive Rights and ACLU challenge Texas anti-choice laws

The Texas omnibus anti-abortion bill made famous by Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis' epic filibuster is being challenged in court by the women's health advocacy group Planned Parenthood as well as the ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights. According to Irin Carmon at NBC News, the groups have filed suit on behalf of more than a dozen women's health clinics that are being threatened with closure thanks to the new laws.

The groups took aim at specific requirements named in the new laws, like the stipulation that abortion providers have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 minutes of the procedure's location. The suit argues that “rather than protecting women’s health, the Act will harm Texas women. It will also violate Plaintiffs’ and their patients’ rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Similar restrictions have been struck down in other cases involving clinics in Alabama, North Dakota and Washington.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District, Austin Division.

[image of protesters at Texas state capitol via Lauren Gersen's Flickr photostream, Creative Commons licensed]