The law never took effect and abortion rights supporters said it was the strictest anti-abortion measure in the country.
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If the admitting privilege requirement was enforced, as many as four of the state’s five abortion clinics could close.
MS was one of several states with laws saying physicians who work at an abortion clinic must obtain privileges to admit patients to a local hospital.
“Today’s decision from a divided court is a prime example of activist jurists imposing their will on the people”, Walker said of Monday’s ruling.
The justices on Tuesday refused to hear appeals involving laws that would have forced doctors who perform abortions at clinics in the two states to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
The Supreme court ruled that both requirements of the law created significant obstacles for women seeking abortions without offering sufficient medical benefits.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange says his office is ending the legal fight over an Alabama abortion law requiring doctors to have hospital admitting privileges.
Numerous laws were based on models written by Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion legal group.
“Today’s decision should send a loud signal to anti-abortion politicians that they can no longer hide behind sham rationales to shut down clinics and prevent a woman who has chose to end a pregnancy from getting the care she needs”. Abortion opponents contend the decision jeopardizes women’s health. Hons says rural women and those with lower incomes have been most affected and that abortion providers like Planned Parenthood hope to open clinics in areas that lost them.
In Monday’s opinion, the court effectively told states that trying to limit abortion access, under the guise of regulations meant to protect health, “is not going to fly”, said Rebecca Robertson, legislative and policy director of the ACLU of Texas.
A woman’s right to end a pregnancy was established under the court’s landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision.
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“After years of fighting heartless, anti-abortion Texas politicians who would seemingly stop at nothing to push abortion out of reach, I want everyone to understand: you don’t mess with Texas, you don’t mess with Whole Woman’s Health”, she added. The state had been appealing a judge’s 2014 decision finding Alabama’s law unconstitutional. North Dakota’s Legislature passed a similar law the same year. Ideally, it will discourage other states from proposing similar laws. “By its ruling, the court held that the ability of abortion clinics to remain open – even under substandard conditions – outweighs the state’s ability to put women’s health and safety first”. Some states now require a 72-hour waiting period before a woman can have an abortion.
