Series Highlights Impact of Texas Ultrasound Law

In May, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a bill that requires women seeking abortion care to undergo an ultrasound and listen to an explanation from the doctor about what the image shows. To understand how abortion providers and patients will be affected by the law, The Texas Tribune interviewed Dr. Scott Spear, the medical director at Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region, as a part of the publication’s month-long series on how Texans’ lives will change in the fall, when most of the bills passed by the legislature will go into effect.

Additionally, this law forces women to wait 24 hours after the mandatory ultrasound before they can obtain abortion care, unless they live more than 100 miles away from the nearest clinic, in which case the waiting period is two hours.

The law is currently being challenged in federal court by the Center for Reproductive Rights, who requested an injunction to prevent the law from going into effect on September 1.

>>Read more about the harmful effects of waiting periods and the additional burdens they create