The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a major abortion case focusing on whether a Texas law that imposes strict regulations on abortion doctors and clinic buildings interferes with the constitutional right of a woman to end her pregnancy.
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WASHINGTON-The abortion debate is returning to the Supreme Court in the midst of a raucous presidential campaign and less than three weeks after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. Well, the challenged laws include a requirement that abortionists have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their place of business and that abortion businesses meet the same safety standards of ambulatory surgical centers.
Justice Sotomayor objected to the idea that abortion would be singled out for additional restrictions, when other outpatient procedures like colonoscopies and liposuction have a much higher complication rate.
However, Kennedy also expressed interest in the idea of sending the case back down to the lower courts so that they could study the law’s effects more closely.
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg wouldn’t let bullsh*t fly.. “What was the problem that the legislature was responding to that it needed to improve the facilities for women’s health?” It’s important to “do all we can to protect it”, he said in an interview after speaking. But the conservative justices seemed unconvinced.
If the Supreme Court upholds the law, the state says, at least one abortion clinic would remain open in every metro area that now has one.
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. “I can’t imagine what is the benefit of having a woman take those pills in an ambulatory surgical center when there is no surgery involved, ” she remarked.
North Dakota meanwhile only has one abortion clinic, in Fargo, which in November settled a lawsuit it filed against the state’s own admitting privileges law after its doctors were credentialed by Sanford Health’s Fargo hospital, the Pioneer Press notes.
“What is the evidence in the record that the closures are related to the legislation?” conservative Chief Justice John Roberts asked. With the stroke of a pen, the state of Texas tried to take that away from us. “The testimony of the plaintiffs says why they closed”, she said, adding that she had direct evidence that 12 of the 20 closed because of HB2.
Supporters of the law argue that it is meant to protect women’s health, but opponents say it has nothing to do with health and safety but is instead a disguised attempt to end abortion.
Inside the Kravis Center Wednesday, Planned Parenthood and former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis called a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a Texas abortion law critical. In such a situation, the lower court ruling would stand. Here, that would mean Texas’ law would be upheld, as well as enabling similar laws in the 5th Circuit (Louisiana and Mississippi).
Keller said the state was motivated by the case of Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion doctor who in 2013 was convicted of multiple crimes including murder of infants born alive.
That would uphold HB2 in most applications and mark a substantial defeat for abortion-rights groups.
During oral arguments, Justice Stephen Breyer, who is often forgotten when it comes to Supreme Court analyses, as he is the reliable white male vote in quartet with a trio of liberal female justices, lobbed some poignant questions regarding the objective of Texas’ law.
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Ginsburg also disputed the state’s argument that the majority of Texas women still live within 100 miles of an abortion provider, arguing that the law should be more concerned with those who aren’t so lucky. It was the arguments that we made today before the court.
