The law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at an area hospital has been ruled unconstitutional, again.
Advertisement
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit today rejected the Walker Administration’s efforts to reinstate a restriction on access to abortion, according to Wisconsin Planned Parenthood. The law had been on hold ever since a Federal Judge struck it down earlier in 2015. AMS said the inability of their Milwaukee doctors to get admitting privileges effectively shut down their abortion services, and believe that is what the law was really meant to do. But persons who have a sophisticated understanding of the law and of the Supreme Court know that convincing the Court to overrule Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey is a steep uphill fight, and so some of them proceed indirectly, seeking to discourage abortions by making it more hard for women to obtain them.
The law’s supporters counter the Republican-backed statutes would ensure continuity of care if a woman developed complications from an abortion and needed to be hospitalized.
The Wisconsin Justice Department said the nation’s high court will decide the issue, although Pines said the Wisconsin and Texas cases are distinct enough for the Wisconsin law to potentially come back to the appellate court for a second look.
During oral arguments in October, the 7th Circuit judges hearing the case peppered state attorneys with questions.
“What makes no sense is to abridge the constitutional right to an abortion on the basis of spurious contentions regarding women’s health – and the abridgment challenged in this case would actually endanger women’s health”, Judge Richard Posner wrote for the majority.
Advertisement
Judge Daniel Manion noted that complications could arise from abortions carried out through medication that women take at home. “The solution to the plaintiffs’ problems is that they find more qualified doctors, not that the state relax – or that we strike down as unconstitutional – precautions taken by the state to protect the health and safety of pregnant women who have chosen to end their pregnancies”, he wrote.
