AUSTIN, Texas – Thirteen abortion clinics in Texas have closed their doors after a legal battle with the state authorities who toughened sanitary standards a year ago for the centers, local press reported.
The clinics shut down on Thursday following the decision by a federal appellate court in New Orleans, which has jurisdiction in Texas, which cleared the way for the new abortion law to go into effect.
The law was annulled in late August by another court but Texas officials appealed to the federal chamber.
With the closings of the 13 clinics, the second most populous state in the country, with 76 million people, will have eight legal abortion centers in the four main cities, Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.
The original law was to go into effect on Sept. 1 but federal Judge Lee Yeakel annulled it, ruling that it was unconstitutional for women of child-bearing age to be more than 240 kilometers (150 miles) from an abortion clinic.
But Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, a Republican running for governor, appealed the ruling.
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