In Casey, the court ruled 5-4 that states may legally pass restrictions on abortion access so long as those restrictions do not create unreasonable obstacles for women who seek to exercise their constitutional right to safely terminate a pregnancy.
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Like Texas law, Missouri statute requires that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic. “That’s odd”, she said, because New Mexico clinics don’t have the same requirements. Justice Antonin Scalia’s death took a fifth vote from the conservative bloc. Kagan began, asking if Texas could require all abortion providers to adhere to the standards of the nation’s top hospitals, such as Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s. If Kennedy sides with the court’s four liberals, the court could either send the case back to the lower court or strike it down.
Nina says that the conservative justices wanted to know how opponents of this law knew that those clinics had shuttered because of the law. Specifically, he expressed concern that the rate of surgical abortions was increasing in Texas compared to abortions induced by pill, which “may not be medically wise”.
Abortion is a major topic in this election year and in the highest court in the land. While he didn’t tip his hand as to where he would come down in the case, the tenor of his questions made it unlikely that he would join the three conservative justices completely in a decision wholly upholding the Texas law.
The New York Times tallied up the impact: From 44 facilities that performed abortions in Texas in 2011, the number dwindled to 24 as lawmakers succeeded in toughening rules for them to operate.
Now the U.S. Supreme Court will have to decide in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt whether the abortion regulations unconstitutionally place an “undue burden” on women.
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. That’s what this is all about: “women’s health and quality of care”, said state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, who was a sponsor of the bill. He raised the possibility of sending the case back to a lower court for more fact-finding as to whether the clinics that remain in Texas can meet the demand for abortion.
Critics say the law makes it harder for women to get abortions.
Some justices also questioned the lack of evidence on why specific clinics closed after the law was passed. Focusing on the law’s rationale, as opposed to its practical consequences (which remain uncertain), does not bode well for its supporters. Casteel said she had an abortion in 2003, before the regulations were imposed that have cut the number of abortion clinics in Missouri to a single Planned Parenthood office in St. Louis. She says, historically, when the Court has been short-handed, it will hold cases until the bench is full. The clinics contended that the Supreme Court is likely to side with the Texas clinics and would reverse any action against the Louisiana clinics.
“It’s nearly like the flawless controlled experiment as to the effect of the law, isn’t it?” she said.
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The Texas clinics filed three emergency applications with the court over the clinic regulations each time the appeals court reversed a trial judge’s ruling blocking the regulations.
