“Today the Supreme Court sent a clear message that all women have the right to make their own reproductive health decisions, no matter where they live”.
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“As a pro-life American, I am deeply disappointed in today’s Supreme Court decision”.
If the admitting privilege requirement was enforced, as many as four of the state’s five abortion clinics could close. By the time the high court agreed to take up the case, the number of abortion clinics in Texas had halved to 19. Justices in a 5-3 decision Monday overturned a Texas law requiring admitting privileges and requiring clinics to meet the same building standards as ambulatory surgical centers. “I think it’s going to be very helpful that women can exercise their constitutional rights to seek abortions if they choose”.
Yesterday the USA supreme court ruled against the state of Texas and its controversial abortion law.
“We really have a daunting task to determine whether and how we can reopen our health centers”, said Whole Woman’s Health founder Amy Hagstrom Miller, whose chain of abortion clinics in Texas includes the state’s only provider on the southern border with Mexico.
“Provisions of this law have had a devastating impact on Texas women”.
“We conclude”, said Justice Stephen G. Breyer, “that neither of these provisions offers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes”. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cautioned in her concurrence, “when a State severely limits access to safe and legal procedures, women in desperate circumstances may resort to unlicensed rogue practitioners, faute de mieux, at great risk to their health and safety”.
“States have passed more than 1,000 restrictions on a woman’s ability to get an abortion”.
Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito dissented.
Dozens of states with abortion laws similar to the ones in Texas struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday could be next to be challenged. “Women have had to make severe sacrifices – financial and health wise – that’s why this ruling is such a victory for women”. The same judge issued a second injunction in 2013, which was upheld by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2014.
In addition to the admitting privileges law, Walker has signed some of the most aggressive anti-abortion measures in the nation while in office, including a bill that requires women to undergo ultrasound exams before getting abortions and a ban on abortions after 20 weeks.
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“Those who want to restrict reproductive rights now know for sure that they have to prove their claims”, said Schwank, the WHC Senate Democratic chair.
