If that happens, restrictions on the procedure will vary among states because the court won’t be able to set a…
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Abortion-rights activists and antiabortion advocates have scheduled large competing rallies with speaker lists featuring top leaders in both camps and supportive members of Congress. However, Erica Barnett, communications director of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, said lawmakers have introduced more legislation than usual this session to restrict abortions, such as a proposal that would notify parents if their daughter is having an abortion, which was defeated by a narrow margin.
At issue in the case is a Texas law – passed in 2013 – that abortion rights supporters say is one of the most strict in the nation.
The second provision is the admitting privilege requirement: It requires doctors who perform abortion care to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital – in Texas, clinics have to be within 30 miles of a hospital – but nothing ensures that hospitals will consider the request, let alone grant such privileges.
“The impact of these closures has been dire, delaying many women – and preventing others – from obtaining a legal abortion”, argued Stephanie Toti, a lawyer for the center, in court papers.
(One good sign for the challengers is that when Kennedy did break his 13-year streak of showing deference to abortion restrictions, it was to temporarily halt a portion of the Texas law while the full case was pending).
The court criticized the ban for failing to include an exception for when a woman’s health is threatened, and because it was unclear about exactly what type of abortion procedure was outlawed. Moreover, some hospitals allow admitting privileges only to doctors who refer a certain number of patients to the facility.
The case is being heard by an eight-justice court because of the unexpected death of Justice Antonin Scalia, who was one of the court’s most outspoken opponents of the idea that the Constitution protects a right to abortion. Famously, State Senator Wendy Davis filibustered against the law passing for 11 long hours – but failed, and it went through anyway. The vacancy on the nine-seat Supreme Court bench leaves the court evenly split 4-4 between conservatives and liberals.
“Petitioners have nothing close to the clearest proof needed to show that the legislature’s stated goal is a sham”, Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller said in his brief to the court. Though Texas has 5.4 million women of childbearing age living within its borders, the number of facilities that provide abortion services has dropped by more than half, from 40 to 19, in less than three years. An elected official in Texas, in fact, tweeted after the law passed that shuttering clinics was why it was rammed through. On the other hand, if Kennedy voted with the liberals that the Texas restrictions went too far, it could have national implications.
ASC standards have been enacted in six states (Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia). Our argument was ignored then, but it now has resurfaced in dramatic fashion six years later, and gaining notoriety because Justice Thomas selected this issue to break his practice of not asking questions during oral argument.
The retired federal public defender helming the case for the two men argued there is a different interpretation of Maine’s state law in respect to purposeful acts and accidental or reckless acts, when compared to federal law.
The Supreme Court must decide where to draw that line and on which side of the line Texas HB 2 falls. According to the Court, regulations that “serve no objective other than to make abortions more difficult” are unconstitutional.
The decision also outlined the legitimate interests of states to protect a pregnant woman’s health and the viability of a fetus at various stages of pregnancy.
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Others worry the measures are chipping away at basic access, especially for rural and low-income women, and doing long-lasting damage to the right to privacy.
