Even before the videos exposing Planned Parenthood practices were revealed, and before the abysmal failure that was the House hearing to address PP funding, individual states did their part to promote life. It is more than apparent that Texas has been an example of how to combat the abortion machine in America. Now Texas is set to appear before the Supreme Court of the United States to defend a law which would effectively shut down the majority of abortion clinics in the Lone Star state. The case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, appears on the SCOTUS calendar for March 2, which is sure to be a day to watch.

As I referred to in a previous post, “The Exhausted Pro-Life Crowd Should Look to Texas”, abortion providers were dealt a blow in June 2015 when the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Texas abortion restrictions. As you recall, the initial drama surrounding the birth of that bill came from former Democratic Texas State Senator Wendy Davis and her famous 11 hour-long filibuster. In the end, her filibuster didn’t work, and neither did her 2014 gubernatorial campaign. The governor at the time, Rick Perry, signed the bill into law, and the abortion culture in Texas changed dramatically.

Now that could be struck down.

On March 2, before SCOTUS:

…attorneys representing Texas will defend its requirements that abortions only be provided in ambulatory surgical centers by doctors who have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of the clinic, by saying they protect women’s health.

Not so, says a group of abortion providers from across Texas in their brief, filed Tuesday. “Those requirements will instead make it harder for women to end a pregnancy safely by reducing their access to legal abortion,” they write in their brief. “Together, the requirements would close more than 75% of Texas abortion facilities and deter new ones from opening. Indeed, more than half of these facilities are currently closed because the admitting privileges requirement is largely in effect.”

…abortion providers who apply for admitting privileges at local hospitals face the challenge that because the abortion complication rate is so low, they rarely admit patients to any hospital – usually a prerequisite for obtaining the status – and the fact that many such hospitals oppose abortion outright.

As mentioned above, many facilities have already closed due to the admitting privileges requirement. As of June 2015, House Bill 2 had such an effect that only 10 clinics were left open in Texas, according to the site Fund Texas Choice.

Ideally, the option of abortion as a grotesque form of birth control would not exist. It would be such an abhorrent idea that most would shun it. But that’s not where we’re at in a society which is essentially a “culture of death”. The best the pro-life movement can do now is take steps toward the ultimate goal. Texas has made great strides, and continues to be an example to other states and to the nation as a whole. In fact, the SCOTUS ruling will not only impact Texas, but other states as well:

Many of Texas’s neighboring states, including Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, have passed similar laws that are also being challenged, and whose outcome depends on how the Supreme Court rules.

The issue of abortion came to the forefront in 2015 like never before as the Center for Medical Progress released videos of Planned Parenthood atrocities. Hopefully it will stay at the top of our list in 2016 – an election year. Activism for life requires that we be aware that abortions occur by the thousands each day in America. We also need to make ourselves aware of legislation protecting life or seeking to destroy it, and court dates which might change everything.