Lawsuit challenges new Texas rules over fetal remains

AUSTIN, Texas – A coalition of national advocacy groups has sued to block Texas’ soon-to-be-implemented rules mandating the burial or cremation of fetal remains.

The lawsuit filed Monday by the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights is the latest legal battle in a state whose tough anti-abortion laws were already largely voided this summer by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Texas had been set to bar abortion facilities from disposing of fetal remains as biological medical waste beginning Dec. 19.

Earlier legal challenges blocked similar measures in Louisiana and Indiana.

Advocates call the rules unnecessary and Texas funeral home operators worry about interment and cremation costs.

The revisions were first proposed in July, four days after the Supreme Court voided much of a larger Texas abortion law.