News

Texas's Abortion Law Claims First Victim

by Seth Millstein

A Texas abortion doctor has had his medical license suspended and his clinic shut down after the state discovered he wasn’t complying with the state’s draconian new abortion law. Per the law, abortion doctors in Texas have to obtain admitting privileges from a nearby hospital if they want to continue operating, but Dr. Theodore Herring, who’s been practicing medicine for 40 years, couldn’t get a hospital to give him admitting privileges. He kept performing abortions regardless, and when the state medical board found out, they yanked his license and shut down the clinic. The suspension is effective immediately.

The Texas Medical Board concluded that Herring performed 268 abortions between Nov. 6 and Feb. 7 without having obtained admitting privileges from a hospital within 30 miles of his Houston clinic. Proponents of Texas' law say that the admitting privileges requirement is intended to protect Texas women who suffer botched abortions. But that claim seems rather disingenuous, and not only because the people who are making it also tend to think abortion should be illegal anyways. In fact, abortion is a very safe procedure: Only around 0.5 percent of women who get abortions ultimately require hospitalization.

Herring is the first doctor to face legal action for not adhering to the new law. The suspension of his license is only temporary, however, pending a hearing before the board.