Texas and its neighbors Oklahoma to the north and Louisiana to the east all have restrictive abortion laws.
All earned F grades from NARAL Pro-Choice America, which described both houses of the Texas legislature and the governor as "anti-choice."
By turn,
the group American's United For Life ranked Texas No. 10 in its protection of the unborn in a 2014 Report Card, while Oklahoma earned the No. 4 spot and Louisiana ranked No. 1.
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Texas requires mandatory counseling before an abortion and a 24-hour waiting period for the procedure after that is received. Twenty-one other states, including Oklahoma and Louisiana, also
require a 24-hour waiting period, NPR reported, while 24 require no waiting period at all.
Texas requires mandatory ultrasounds for pregnant women and parental consent for minors
seeking abortions, the Guttmacher Institute noted. Texas is among 24 states that have ultrasound provisions in their laws.
According to Planned Parenthood, Texas requires one parent to give permission to a minor seeking an abortion and that one parent also be contacted about an abortion decision 48 hours before the procedure is completed. A judge, however, can intervene on these two requirements.
Oklahoma and Louisiana also require parental consent, NPR noted.
Texas came in at No. 22 based its number of state
abortion restrictions, The Washington Post reported. Louisiana ranked No. 7 while Oklahoma was ranked No. 1.
Ten of Texas' abortion clinics were to be shuttered amid new restrictions on such facilities, but the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in June, putting such closures on hold temporarily,
the Texas Tribune reported.
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