Texas rule requiring burial or cremation of fetal tissue shames women, suit says

Lawsuit filed by Texas women’s rights group attempts to block
a new rule it says is a political ploy to stimagise abortions

Tom Dart in Houston
Monday 12 December 2016 21.22 GMT

A women’s rights group has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block a new Texas rule that requires fetal remains to be cremated or buried.

Accusing the state of a politically motivated ploy to make it harder for women to have abortions, the Center for Reproductive Rights launched the legal action on Monday, one week before the regulation is set to take effect on 19 December.

The lawsuit against the Texas department of state health services (DSHS), filed in federal court in Austin, alleges that the regulation has no medical benefits, will pose practical burdens by increasing the cost of healthcare services and is an attempt to stigmatise abortion and heap shame on women seeking the procedure.

Whole Woman’s Health, an abortion provider, is the lead plaintiff in the suit. It claims that the new regulation “burdens women seeking pregnancy-related medical care. It imposes a funeral ritual on women who have a miscarriage management procedure, ectopic pregnancy surgery, or an abortion.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]