Texans are being forced to wait longer to receive abortions than ever before,according to The Texas Observer.The number of abortion providers in Texas has fallen from 41 down to 18 since Republican lawmakers passed a restrictive law in 2013.
The long wait times mean that researchers expect the number of abortions performed during the second trimester to rise. Later abortions are associated with a higher risk of complications than first-term abortions. Women in the Dallas area have waited almost three weeks to receive an appointment at a clinic.
Wait times increased after the closing of a Dallas clinic in June of this year. Before the clinic’s closing, the average wait was five days. One Dallas clinic was unable to schedule any new appointments during the entire month of July. In Austin and Fort Worth, waits are sometimes even longer, stretching to 23 days.