Athens is represented in Congress by two Republicans who also happen to be Baptist ministers, so it’s no surprise that they’re extremely unhappy with yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, striking down Texas restrictions on abortion clinics that would have closed most of the clinics in the state.
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Texas’s 2013 law required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, and clinics were required to be held to the same standard as surgical centers. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling the law put an undue burden on women’s constitutional right to abortion.
Writing for the court, liberal Justice Stephen Breyer said, “We conclude that neither of these provisions offers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes”.
Now people are turning their focus to possible future decisions like one on a law passed in IN in March banning abortions sought because of genetic abnormalities. Not even about abortion.
State lawmakers have passed more than 316 restrictions on safe, legal abortion since 2011 and have introduced 442 in the first six months of 2016 alone according to the Guttmacher Institute. I stand by my pro-life principles, and will continue to speak out on the negative consequences the abortion industry has on our society.
On the other side, The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) said it was disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down “common-sense safety standards for abortion clinics – regulations created to protect women”.
I remember when I was in college, I interned at the local Planned Parenthood. because they had to have hallways a certain length and it mattered what their parking lot layout was.
“The Missouri Legislature has repeatedly over the years, engaged in a bit of a game where it pretends that it’s protecting women’s health but really all it’s doing is erecting unnecessary barriers to abortion care”, he states. “The opinion by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals stands and those portions of our law addressed by the decision are now permanently enjoined”. IN law said doctors performing abortions must have hospital-admitting privileges, but lets them reach an agreement with another doctor who does.
In the MS case, a federal district court judge issued a temporary injunction in 2012 blocking the law because it would have forced women seeking abortions to go out of state.
Texas officials said it was meant to protect women’s health.
Some supporters of the law, too, saw the case as part of bigger question of abortion in the United States.
Previous litigation on the subject in the state, including a decision by the federal District Court in Austin, found that a outcome of the rules would be to close clinics that did not operate within or in proximity to major city centres.
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Federal appeals courts in Chicago and New Orleans earlier ruled against the states.
