Health Highlights: Oct. 3, 2014

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Texas Abortion Clinic Rules Upheld by Appeals Court

Strict abortion clinic laws in Texas can be fully enforced, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

With the decision, abortions instantly became outlawed at more than a dozen clinics, leaving Texas with as few as seven abortion providers, despite being the second-most populous state in the country, the Associated Press reported.

There are now no abortion clinics south or west of San Antonio, and women who live near the Mexico border will have to drive hours to have a legal abortion.

Two years ago, Texas had more than 40 abortion facilities. That number began to fall after Gov. Rick Perry last year signed a sweeping abortion law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges, and for abortion clinics to meet hospital-level operating standards, the AP reported.

Abortion rights groups challenged the new rules and in August a lower court blocked the operating standards provision. However, that ruling was overturned Thursday by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court in New Orleans.

The decision is only a stay pending a full appeal, but Texas is likely to win the case, the court wrote.

“This is a sad day for women in Texas. It is very unfortunate,” Gloria Martinez, the administrative nurse at Hilltop Women’s Reproductive Clinic, told the AP.

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Antibiotic Use in Livestock Still Rising: FDA

The amount of medically important antibiotics sold for use in animals raised for meat climbed 16 percent from 2009 to 2012, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report says.

This large increase is troubling given attempts to fight antibiotic resistance in people, experts said.

“We’re concerned that antibiotic sales for food animal production keep increasing,” Laura Rogers, director of the Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming at the Pew Charitable Trusts, a research and advocacy group, The New York Times reported.

The most disturbing news was an eight percent rise in the sale of cephalosporins in 2012, despite new FDA restrictions placed on that class of antibiotics early that year. That suggests that the FDA’s actions may be having little effect, according to health advocates.

The sale of cephalosporins, which are important in human health, rose 37 percent from 2009 to 2012, The Times reported.

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