Interactive: How Texas' Proposed Abortion Restrictions Stack Up

House Bill 2 and Senate Bill 1 — the omnibus abortion legislation filed in the second special legislative session — have been labeled as among the strictest abortion regulations in the country.

The bills would ban abortion starting 20 weeks after fertilization, under a provision stating that Texas has a compelling interest in protecting fetuses from pain; require doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the facility; force doctors to administer the abortion-inducing drug RU-486 in person, rather than allowing the woman to take it at home; and require abortions — even drug-induced ones — to be performed in ambulatory surgical centers.

This interactive shows which of the state's 42 abortion facilities already meet the ambulatory surgical center requirement (yellow) and which do not (blue). The table below shows how these additional restrictions on abortions in Texas compare with restrictions in other states, based on information collected by the Guttmacher Institute, an advocacy and research organization that promotes abortion rights but produces data that is cited by advocates on both sides of the issue.

State Type of Ban Law Status Facility Regulations Hospital Distance Provider Requirements

Though most physicians calculate the stage of a woman's pregnancy based on her last menstrual period, HB 2 and SB 1 would do it post-fertilization — a difference of two weeks.

California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming allow abortions until a doctor determines the fetus is viable. Though that date can vary, the point of viability typically falls around 26 weeks after the last menstrual period — 24 weeks after fertilization. For comparison purposes, those states are labeled as allowing abortions up to that point. North Dakota will allow abortions up to the point of viability until a new six-week ban takes effect Aug. 1.

HB 2 and SB 1 would also require abortion facilities in Texas to meet state ambulatory surgical center standards, but the stringency of those standards can vary from state to state. Texas’ standards fall on the stricter side, said Elizabeth Nash, a policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute.

This story was produced in partnership with Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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