The death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia last month means that the high court lost an outspoken opponent of abortion. The state law makes abortion clinics meet surgical center requirements and requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospitals.
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Kennedy spoke about one effect of the 2013 Texas law, that it has lowered the number of abortions resulting from women taking pills and increased the number of more invasive surgical abortions, which he said “may not be medically wise”. The clinics are hoping he’ll join the court’s four liberal justices in deeming the regulations unconstitutional.
Gary Ledbetter, the SBTC’s director of communications and ministry relationships, said, “Abortion providers seem to believe that they should be exempt from regulation because it would make a hardship on their ability to make a profit”.
The Texas case has been closely watched because it could determine how far states may go to regulate and restrict abortion.
In advance of Wednesday’s Supreme Court case, the Monitor examined abortion in Texas in a three-part series looking at those most affected by the Texas law, the pro-life answer to abortion clinics, and how hard it is to get an abortion. They have challenged the Texas laws, arguing that there’s no evidence that the laws promote health and that they’re really about impeding women’s access to abortion.
An opinion in the case, which is Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, is expected before the court ends its term in late June or early July.
There are at least three possible outcomes (and they mostly turn on Justice Kennedy, who holds the key vote in this case). Are they going to uphold the privileges requirement?
“I ought to know something about women’s health, and I will tell you that there is no such thing as a safe abortion”, Black said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court once again reviewed a Texas abortion law.
In that case, the Supreme Court said that state governments were free to pass certain abortion regulations but that those regulations could not impose a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion.
The three women on the court and Justice Stephen Breyer repeatedly asked why Texas needed to enact the 2013 law.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the four liberal justices expressed opposition to the law, Reuters reported. 2, the ruling will doom similar laws throughout the country. A 4-4 deadlock would uphold the Texas law but not set a national precedent.
Why is Texas creating more stringent restrictions for abortion than for other medical procedures that are far more risky? She says, historically, when the Court has been short-handed, it will hold cases until the bench is full. But Elrod said the clinics “misinterpret both the facts in our prior abortion cases and the Supreme Court’s rulings”.
While the supporters of the law claim health and safety as their motivations, many think that it’s all just a not-so-sneaky way of eradicating abortions altogether.
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“We will reiterate that the American people will have a voice in the vacancy on the Supreme Court as they choose the next president, who in turn will nominate the next Supreme Court justice”, McConnell said.
