Inside the secret war on abortion clinics that could shutter them across America

Anti-abortion activists in Ohio are plotting to pick off clinics one by one. By the time a judge catches up, it may be too late

Robin Marty
theguardian.com, Tuesday 9 September 2014 07.30 EDT

Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider (Trap) bills in Alabama, Texas, Louisiana and more US states are designed by over-eager abortion opponents to deceive and conquer. In many of the states where they’ve been enacted, judges have ruled that such medically unnecessary laws, which would shutter most of the abortion clinics in a given state, are an undue burden to a woman’s right to access a legal, safe pregnancy termination.

So, in their ambitions to shutter most – if not all – of the abortion providers in a state in a single blow, anti-abortion activists find their bills blocked or left unenforced because they were too far-reaching.

Meanwhile, Ohio’s anti-abortion activists and legislators have engaged in a stealth war on abortion clinics with a far more effective ploy: they are picking off clinics one by one, with almost no interference from the local courts. In the wake of recent victories in Texas, Alabama and elsewhere, Ohio’s clinic closure blueprint could become a frightening model for shutting down clinics – and one that could get exported across the country.

(More here.)