Planned Parenthood president, Cecile Richards, has confirmed that the abortion giant has no plans to build new HB 2-compliant abortion mills in the state of Texas at this time. That leaves the total number of Planned Parenthood abortion mils that will be open after July 1 at four, located in Dallas, Austin, Houston, and Fort Worth, respectively. Each of these is an ambulatory surgical center (ASC), per the safety standards codified by the Pro-Life Omnibus Bill, House Bill 2 of the 2013 legislative session.
Richards made Planned Parenthood sound like a charity when explaining that her group would “pick up the slack” and open more abortion mills if smaller abortion mills could not afford to upgrade: “We have in other states,” she said, “and if we have to in Texas, we will.” But Planned Parenthood, while touting concern for rural Texas women who do not live near any abortion mills, has failed to “pick up the slack” in the past.
In 2014, the business announced plans to build a gargantuan abortion mill in San Antonio, where there was already an abortion mill in existence that complied with the requirements of HB 2, which are finally taking effect after 2 years of stall tactics by the anti-Life lobby. Texas Right to Life Senior Legislative Associate Emily Horne told Breitbart, “Planned Parenthood always complains that there are only ASCs in five Texas cities–they've made such a fuss about there not being one in rural parts of the state like the Rio Grande Valley area. But then they go and build their new clinic in San Antonio, where there's already an ASC.” Instead of setting their sights on areas that they themselves claim “need” abortion mills, Planned Parenthood plopped down in an urban area that ensured the promise of lucrative profits thanks to the large population.
Richards predictably blamed Planned Parenthood’s recoil from rural Texas on the hospitals who are apprehensive about granting admitting privileges to abortionists (HB 2 requires the possession of such privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion mill). Richards stated: “We can build compliant facilities, but unless there is a local hospital that would give admitting privilege — which is a highly political issue, not a medical issue — it's very difficult.” But, as Texas Right to Life reported in 2014, this excuse doesn’t hold water, and instead is “a ruse that deters scrutiny of the actual reality, which is that Texas abortionists have a track record of being unable to obtain privileges even at secular hospitals in less-urban locales.”
The good news is that, for now, Planned Parenthood is decidedly not building any new killing centers in the great state of Texas.