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June 25, 2013

Texas House Gives Final Approval to Anti-Abortion Bill; Sponsor Suggests Rape Kits Provide Abortions 
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Texas House lawmakers have given final approval to a sweeping
anti-abortion bill that would shutter almost all the state's abortion
clinics. The state Senate is set to take up Senate Bill 5 today.
Pro-choice demonstrators have flooded the Capitol to protest provisions
that include banning abortion at 20 weeks and requiring clinics to meet
the standards of hospital-style surgery centers. Critics say only five
out of 42 clinics would survive. On Monday, the bill's Republican House
sponsor, state Representative Jodie Laudenberg, suggested rape victims
could obtain an abortion by seeking rape kits at an emergency room where
"a woman can get cleaned out." A rape kit is a forensic test that
collects evidence used to prosecute sex crimes.

 

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