The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Louisiana ruled in favor of the state of Texas on Thursday to impose an abortion law that requires clinics to have hospital admitting privileges and hospital-level operating standards.

The upgrade would have cost clinics millions of dollars in additional expenses -- the ruling will leave just eight clinics open in the state, down from 40 clinics a year ago, but operators have said they will appeal the decision, according to The Associated Press.

Abortion-rights lawyers argued during appeals that the law placed too much of a burden on women and said the law is a backdoor effort to outlaw abortions, which are a constitutional right since the Roe V. Wade ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973.

"[Thursday's] ruling has gutted Texas women's constitutional rights and access to critical reproductive health care and stands to make safe, legal abortion essentially disappear overnight," said Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. "All Texas women have been relegated ... to a second class of citizens whose constitutional rights are lesser than those in states less hostile to reproductive autonomy, and women facing difficult economic circumstances will be particularly hard hit by this devastating blow."

The law has led to the closing of more than 80 percent of Texas' family planning clinics, leading many women to travel more than 200 miles or more, or travel to other states for services.

"This case is ultimately going to end up with the Supreme Court," Northup said. "It is going to be a showdown ... on whether the promise of Roe will have meaning in the United States."

Americans United for Life, a national anti-abortion advocacy group, has pushed for legislation in other states on clinic regulations. Dan McConchie told AP there is a good chance that the restrictions would end up before the Supreme Court --  hospital admitting privileges, abortion clinic standards, abortion-inducing drugs and banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Latin Post reported Latinas will be deeply affected by the legislation as 68 percent believe in a woman's right to choose, and 40 percent of Texas' population is Latino.

Texas gubernatorial candidate, Wendy Davis (D), held a 13-hour filibuster last summer temporarily blocking the bill in the state senate.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit reproductive health organization, 47,000 women around the world die each year from unsafe abortions and millions more are injured.