New rules in Texas requiring the cremation or burial of fetal remains are unconstitutional, according to an abortion clinic that won a major Supreme Court case over the summer.
Whole Women’s Health founder Amy Hagstrom Miller said Thursday that her clinic “will not stand” for the final rules released this week by Texas health officials. She pointed to the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt ruling, in which the justices said new clinic and doctor regulations make it too burdensome for women to get an abortion.
“The Supreme Court ruled that you can’t put a burden in the path of women seeking safe abortion care unless you can justify that it somehow furthers women’s health and safety,” Miller said. “This administrative rule has nothing to do with women’s health and safety, it is clearly unconstitutional.”
A spokeswoman for Whole Women’s Health didn’t respond to a question about whether the clinic will sue again over the latest rules.
The clinic won a major legal victory in June, when the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law requiring abortion clinics to meet the facility standards of ambulatory surgical centers and requiring abortion doctors to get hospital admitting privileges. Whole Women’s Health, which operates three abortion clinics in Texas, had brought the lawsuit.
“Texas did an end run game through the administrative process and ignored thousands of people’s testimony and commentary,” Miller said. “But make no mistake, we see them and we see what they are up to.”
