In the case, the justices will determine whether a two-year-old law in Texas poses an “undue burden” on women’s legal right to terminate a pregnancy.
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This will be the first major abortion case heard by the Supreme Court since 2007’s Gonzales v. Carhart.
The Texas law that has caused so many clinics to shut down mandates that abortion providers have the same standards as “ambulatory surgical centers”, with certain requirements for equipment, staff and infrastructure.
In September, abortion clinics in the state had asked the Court to hear their challenge to the law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a statement following the decision, asserting that the regulations are necessary in order to protect women’s health.
Gretchen Borchelt, vice president of health and reproductive rights for the National Women’s Law Association, called Texas “ground zero” in the abortion debate, noting that other states could be discouraged from passing such sweeping legislation if Texas’ law was struck down.
A federal court trial judge declared the law invalid, ruling that it would not advance the state’s interest in promoting women’s health.
In June, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s decision and allowed the law to be put into effect. A decision should come by late June, four months before the presidential election.
The state has argued that women in west Texas already cross into New Mexico to obtain abortions at a clinic in the suburbs of the Texas city of El Paso. The Court must decide it the law imposes an undue burden on women who seek abortions.
Access to abortion providers is shifting geographically, reports USA Today, with the most clinics in states like NY and California. One says abortion clinics must be constructed like surgical centers.
In formulating what is now known as the “undue burden” standard, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that a woman’s right to an abortion involves “the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the 14th Amendment”. The clinic had closed in January after its only doctor with admitting privileges retired and his replacement was unable to meet the state’s requirements. But, that changed Friday, as the justices agreed to look at a dispute over state regulations in Texas and Mississippi.
There were more than 40 abortion clinics in Texas before HB2 became law in 2013.
Oral arguments in the case, which is Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, are not expected until February or later. “The abortion industry doesn’t like these laws because abortion clinics would be forced to spend money to meet basic health and safety standards”, Tobias said.
About half the states require a one- to three-day waiting period for women to receive an abortion after she has gone through counseling.
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“There is no question that this is a legitimate objective that supports regulating physicians and the facilities in which they perform abortions”, the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals declared in upholding the Texas law.
