Nevertheless, Monday’s ruling now stands as the most significant abortion’s right’s case in almost 25 years.
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“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”.
Arizona does have a similar rule that doctors performing surgical abortions must have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles. Admitting privileges as a requirement for abortion access is not medically necessary.
That could affect abortion laws for states across the country.
The filibuster was the rallying cry that led to an “explosion” among young women and young voters who now understood the connection between their votes and the people who make decisions, said former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte.
“As the father of three daughters, I support every woman’s right to make her own health care decisions”, Hill said in a statement.
Casey said the Women’s Health Center of Duluth now is the only abortion clinic north of the Twin Cities in Minnesota.
“I expect the (U.S.) Supreme Court decision today to be quite persuasive to that court (the Oklahoma Supreme Court), because it is quite compelling”, said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
An abortion-rights lawyer, Sue Frietsche, said the law inflicted heavy financial burdens on abortion clinics throughout Pennsylvania and contributed to the closure of several of them. They required abortion clinics to meet the same standards as hospital-like ambulatory surgical centers, which range from minimum sizes for rooms and doorways to the number of nurses required on staff. Since the law was signed into effect in 2013, Texas lost over half of its clinics.
The ruling is seen as a major victory for abortion rights, including in Alabama.
Mondays’ ruling in favor of Whole Woman’s Health means it and other providers could reopen some of the 22 clinics that closed, but it’s unclear how many or how long it will take. Justices decided that the Texas law would have made it too hard for women by forcing them to travel great distances to get an abortion.
The court has said in the past that states can regulate access to abortion but not in a way that causes an undue burden on women. Now, each state may have to prove that’s not the case.
Students for Life of America activist Kristin Hawkins was disappointed with the court, saying the law aimed only to keep women safe.
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“The Supreme Court clearly recognized that it’s medical professionals who should be the ones trusted to determine what the safest and best medical care is for their patients, and do that free from government interference”. Several states have recently banned dilation-and-extraction, a common second-trimester abortion technique which opponents have depicted as “dismemberment abortion”.
