There are now 19 clinics in Texas and that number would have been cut to as few as 9 if the high court had upheld the law.
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Florida lawmakers passed a law earlier this year hitting abortion clinics with tougher regulations. In a 5 to 3 decision in favor of the health clinics, with Justices Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito dissenting, the Court overturned two parts of Texas House Bill 2: the requirements that physicians performing abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles, and that abortion clinics meet the minimum standards of ambulatory surgical centers.
One of the key questions was which side Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has been a swing vote on abortion issues, would join.
The court refused to hear the two states’ appeals against lower court rulings that have blocked them from enacting restrictions on abortion doctors and clinics.
“This is a great day for women’s rights and equality”, Trust Women founder and CEO Julie Burkhart said in a statement. “And today the Supreme Court did the same”. Today’s ruling means the 22 clinics that closed could reopen, but it’s unclear how many and how long that will take.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, whose lawyers argued the Texas case before the Supreme Court, says the decision could have far-reaching implications.
The question ahead, Northup said, is whether other types of state restrictions also pose such a burden.
“The Supreme Court’s decision made crystal clear that laws like Alabama, Mississippi, and Wisconsin’s that rely on sham justifications to prevent a woman from having an abortion are unconstitutional”. “How could you possibly find that amusing and make abortion such a light issue”. Mark Warner signed an amicus brief in the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt case, urging the Supreme Court to reject Texas’ “effort to undermine a woman’s constitutionally protected right to make her own health care choices”.
Kansas is now embroiled in at least three lawsuits challenging various state laws restricting abortion services.
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Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri said in a news release it faces identical restrictions in Missouri and Kansas, and will examine all legal avenues to invalidate these “unconstitutional and medically unnecessary laws that place an undue burden on patients seeking safe and legal abortion in our states”.
