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(CNN)A lawsuit was filed against the state of Texas on Monday seeking to halt new rules mandating the burial or cremation of aborted fetal remains.
The Texas Department of State Health Services approved the measure last week. The new regulations require women's health clinics to bury or cremate embryonic and fetal tissue from abortions, miscarriages or ectopic pregnancy surgery, regardless of the woman's wishes.
The regulations are scheduled to take effect December 19.
The rules were proposed four days after a landmark US Supreme Court decision struck down a Texas law restricting abortions. State health officials say the rules will help stop the spread of communicable disease, citing similar rules or laws in more than a dozen other states.
The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of several Texas women's health clinics and an Austin-area gynecologist. The group said the rules are in direct defiance of the high court's ruling, which held that such restrictions cannot impose burdens on a woman's right to access abortion care without providing any medical benefit.
The rules disregard "widespread objection" from medical organizations and legal experts, who say they "offer no public health or safety benefit," and increase the shame and stigma surrounding abortion, the group said.
The Texas Department of State Health Services approved the measure last week. The new regulations require women's health clinics to bury or cremate embryonic and fetal tissue from abortions, miscarriages or ectopic pregnancy surgery, regardless of the woman's wishes.
The regulations are scheduled to take effect December 19.
The rules were proposed four days after a landmark US Supreme Court decision struck down a Texas law restricting abortions. State health officials say the rules will help stop the spread of communicable disease, citing similar rules or laws in more than a dozen other states.
The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of several Texas women's health clinics and an Austin-area gynecologist. The group said the rules are in direct defiance of the high court's ruling, which held that such restrictions cannot impose burdens on a woman's right to access abortion care without providing any medical benefit.
The rules disregard "widespread objection" from medical organizations and legal experts, who say they "offer no public health or safety benefit," and increase the shame and stigma surrounding abortion, the group said.