The U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled that a 2013 Texas law created to restrict women’s access to abortion services is unconstitutional. In a 5-3 ruling, this is the court’s first look at abortion in nearly a decade and some have called it THE most consequential abortion case in nearly 25 years.
The issue at hand was whether or not the Texas law, known as HB-2, placed an “undue burden” on women seeking abortions. The landmark 1973 law Roe v. Wade made abortion legal, but also stated states could regulate the practice as long as doing so did not place an “undue burden” on women.
Before it was stopped, the law forced more than half of all Texas abortion clinics to close, reducing the number to 20 across the nation’s second-largest state. If the law were allowed to continue half of those 20 clinics would close.
During oral arguments, Justice Elena Kagan noted,
“Liposuction is 30 times more dangerous, yet doesn’t have the same kinds of requirements.”
TWC News in Austin notes today’s,
“outcome will affect the fate of similar abortion restrictions in other states,” including Louisiana and Mississippi. During oral arguments Justice Kennedy “floated the idea of sending the case to a lower court to get more evidence. He also seemed concerned that the Texas restrictions might be forcing women to get abortions later in their pregnancies, which are riskier.”
Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, told Fox News,
“A tied vote would have left the law in place, meaning “women would enjoy their fundamental rights differently based on the state in which they live and this is not how our Constitution works.”
(via NCRM)
