An El Paso abortion facility that closed in October after it was unable to comply with a new Texas safety law requiring abortionists to maintain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals has reopened after the U.S. Supreme Court granted it a temporary exemption.
The Hill Top Women's Reproductive Clinic reopened Tuesday, after having been shut down at the beginning of last month. The Supreme Court granted its injunction allowing its abortionists to operate regardless of admitting privileges on October 14, but by that time, the clinic was undergoing renovations and unable to reopen. Now that the construction is complete, the facility is fully operational.
“We look forward to providing [abortion] services again,” administrator Gloria Martinez told the El Paso Times. “It's important to have a clinic like Hill Top available for women in the area.”
The facility has faced its share of controversy over the past decade. In 2007, Texas state officials fined Hilltop $5,350.00 for failing to monitor infection control or address post-procedure infections, and for disregarding the state's parental notification and consent laws when performing abortions on minor girls.
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In 2011, the clinic again made headlines after a neighbor’s dog discovered the remains of aborted children exposed in the facility’s parking lot. Local pro-life activists were outraged at the cavalier disposal of the tiny bodies, but state officials refused to intervene and rebuffed the local Catholic bishop’s request to give the infants a proper burial.
Unlike other abortion clinics, Hilltop does not claim to offer any services beyond pregnancy testing and abortion. Its website advertises surgical abortions through 15 weeks of pregnancy, and drug-induced abortions through 7 weeks.