Photo: AP

The Supreme Court may have struck down abortion regulations that would have shut down all but five clinics providing termination of pregnancy services in Texas, but there’s always going to be new abortion regulations in Texas. The latest requires the fetal tissue to be buried or cremated, regardless of the period of gestation, the AP reports.

Since Texas state agencies don’t need legislative approval to adopt new regulations, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has already ordered the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to propose the regulation and plans for it to be in effect by September. Abortion providers would be responsible for the burials.

“Governor Abbott believes human and fetal remains should not be treated like medical waste, and the proposed rule changes affirms the value and dignity of all life,” Abbott’s spokeswoman has said, clarifying the motivations of the state-mandated mourning rituals. Since Abbott also believes that termination of pregnancy should be illegal even if the mother’s life is in danger and supported blocking affordable healthcare for women in a state with some of the country’s highest rates of cervical cancer, the “all life” part is highly suspect.

Similar rules are already in effect in states like Arkansas, Georgia, and Ohio, and in Indiana similar regulations are on hold after on a temporary injunction. The bill, which would have required the patient to be given a remains disposal form and the fetal tissue to be sent for cremation or burial at a funeral home, also banned termination of pregnancy motivated by genetic abnormalities.