On Tuesday, the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, upheld some of the
toughest provisions of a Texas abortion law, ruling that Texas can require all
abortion clinics in the state to meet the same building, equipment and staffing
standards that hospital-style surgical centers must meet. This ruling, could force numerous clinics to
close putting about half of the state’s remaining abortion clinics at risk of
permanently shutting their doors and leaving the nation’s second-most populous
state with fewer than a dozen clinics across its more than 267,000 square
miles. There were 41 when the law was passed.
Joining me today to discuss the ruling and the impact it will have on
the women of Texas is Yvonne Gutierrez
the Executive Director for Planned Parenthood Texas Votes the policy and
advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood in Texas.
Last year The
Republican National Committee struck a deal to share voter information with the
Koch brothers’ rapidly expanding political empire, and at the time Party
leaders, including the current chief digital officer for the RNC, hailed the
deal as an important step forward in the GOP’s attempt to modernize
itself. But after the fall midterm elections,
the deal was allowed to expire without being renewed, and according to Jon Ward the Senior Political
Correspondent for Yahoo News, since then, relations between the two sides have soured, turning into what one Republican operative described as “all-out
war.” Jon joins me today to talk all
about the fight between the RNC and the political operatives affiliated with
Charles and David Koch.
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