Regulating abortion: Impact on patients and providers in Texas

The State of Texas began enforcement of the Woman's Right to Know (WRTK) Act on January 1, 2004. The law requires that all abortions at or after 16 weeks' gestation be performed in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC). In the month the law went into effect, not one of Texas's 54 nonhos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of policy analysis and management Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 775 - 797
Main Authors Colman, Silvie, Joyce, Ted
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.09.2011
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Wiley Periodicals Inc
SeriesJournal of Policy Analysis and Management
Subjects
Abortion
Age
Birth Rate
Birth rates
Case studies
Change
Cities
Females
Fetus
Gestation period
Gestational age
Health Care Costs
Health care industry
Health centres
Health Facilities
Health services
Impact analysis
Incidence
Induced abortion
Law
Legislation
Markets
Patients
Policy analysis
Political science
Pregnancy
Public policy
Regulation
Social policy
State laws
State Legislation
Studies
Texas
U.S.A
Women's rights
Womens Rights
Texas
United States > US
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Summary:The State of Texas began enforcement of the Woman's Right to Know (WRTK) Act on January 1, 2004. The law requires that all abortions at or after 16 weeks' gestation be performed in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC). In the month the law went into effect, not one of Texas's 54 nonhospital abortion providers met the requirements of a surgical center. The effect was immediate and dramatic. The number of abortions performed in Texas at or after 16 weeks' gestation dropped 88 percent, from 3,642 in 2003 to 446 in 2004, while the number of residents who left the state for a late abortion almost quadrupled. By 2006, abortions at or after 16 weeks' gestation in a nonhospital setting were available in four major cities in Texas (down from nine in 2003), and the abortion rate at or after 16 weeks' gestation remained 50 percent below its pre-Act level. Regulation of abortion providers that require new facilities or costly renovations could have profound effects on the market for second-trimester abortions.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-75C1B8PT-M
ArticleID:PAM20603
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ISSN:0276-8739
1520-6688
DOI:10.1002/pam.20603