The new rule pertaining to fetal and embryonic tissue as a result of miscarriage or abortion had hard opposition from the moment the regulation was proposed by health officials in July this year, according to the Texas Tribune.
And despite months of public comment periods, two-hours-long hearings, and over 35,000 comments submitted to the state’s Health and Human Services Commission, the voices of the voters were ignored and the rule is to go into effect on December 19.
The Washington Post is reporting that state health officials finalized the new rules Monday, prohibiting hospitals, abortion clinics and other health care facilities from disposing of fetal remains — regardless of the period of gestation.
Department of State Health Services spokeswoman Carrie Williams told the Dallas Morning News the department found that cost shouldn’t be a concern for hospitals and abortion providers, but abortion rights advocates say different. Opponents of the rules say the requirements could be costly and create more obstacles for people obtaining abortions.
“What we found through our research is that the proposed rules won’t increase total costs for healthcare facilities,” Williams said in an email. “While the methods described in the new rules may have a cost, that cost is expected to be offset by costs currently being spent by facilities on disposition for transportation, storage, incineration, steam disinfection and/or landfill disposal.”
“These new restrictions reveal the callous indifference that Texas politicians have toward women,” a Center for Reproductive Rights lawyer says, adding the rules will “almost certainly trigger costly litigation,” reports the Texas Tribune.
