According to Texas law, abortion clinics must meet the same standards as health care facilities providing surgery, and the clinic’s doctors must have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. If Kennedy sides with the state of Texas, that will presumably leave the high court deadlocked 4-4.
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At a rally on the University of Texas at Austin campus, Tricia Trigilio, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas repeated her group’s position: that the law from its very beginnings was meant to close the state’s abortion clinics. “There is a possibility that the justices decide that this is going to be precedent-setting, even with a 4-4 split, that this will set a precedent for other states”.
U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. urged the court to offer a new endorsement of the abortion right it last affirmed in 1992.
Liberals appeared united that the new regulations raising standards for abortion clinics would force many to close, ultimately obstructing a woman’s right to abortion for no good reason. “We are here to stand up for the unborn and we are here to stand up for the rule of law”, Ryan said. On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Whole Woman’s Health v. He wants to see more information on how the Texas law would affect the number of abortions performed in clinics that remain open should the law become fully effective.
In advance of Wednesday’s Supreme Court case, the Monitor examined abortion in Texas in a three-part series looking at those most affected by the Texas law, the pro-life answer to abortion clinics, and how hard it is to get an abortion.
Justice Antonin Scalia’s death is being noticed as the U.S. Supreme Court enters into the current debate over abortion. “If that right still does retain real substance, then this law can not stand. The burdens it imposes, the obstacles, are far beyond anything that this Court has countenanced”.
As Nina reported earlier today, the law requires all abortions – either surgical or medical, meaning with pills – to be done in ambulatory surgical centers. He previously sided with the four more liberal justices on the court to block some restrictions while the case was on appeal. A clinic staffer points to a requirement that “emergency lighting shall be provided in accordance with Sec. 7.9”.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not buy that argument because she said Gosnell was a lawbreaker whose clinic had not been inspected for more than 15 years, but Texas has aggressively inspected clinics and has found nothing like the Gosnell case.
Another disagreement centered on whether the few abortion clinics left in Texas are capable of providing service to everyone who needs reproductive care in the state.
Kennedy’s questions Wednesday did not make clear his stance. The high court is expected to reach a decision on Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt in June. In 2015 alone, 17 states passed more than 50 abortion restrictions and 11 states slashed funding to Planned Parenthood.
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When the ERLC-SBTC brief was filed February 1, ERLC President Russell Moore said, “Abortion activists have claimed for years that protecting women from harm is their primary goal, but they are certainly on the wrong side of women’s health on this issue”.
