Abortion debate returns to depleted Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in the most important abortion case in decades – a Texas law that has important implications for Georgia and the way it regulates abortions.

Inside the Court, the oral arguments focused on whether the law’s intent was to place an “undue burden” on the right of women to have an abortion, as prohibited in the Court’s 1992 decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Legal analyst Lyle Denniston, writing for the www.scotusblog.com, a blog on the Supreme Court, said the Texas case “provides nearly a textbook example of challenging abortion by new regulations of clinic procedures”.

At the center of the case are two provisions of HB 2.

Ellington said that she also suffered severe psychological effects after the abortion, including suicidal thoughts and attempts to take her own life.

Texas officials say their law is meant to protect women, not prevent them from having abortions. But abortion remains a disputed issue in the United States, as it does in many countries, and some states have passed laws aiming to place a variety of restrictions on a woman’s ability to terminate a pregnancy. This is where the plaintiff’s argument lies. Additionally, the state law forces clinics to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery.

The justices will meet Friday to vote on the Texas case. He added that “my reading indicated that medical abortions are up nationwide but down significantly in Texas”.

“None, your honor”, responded Toti. Meanwhile, Justice Samuel Alito said, “As to some of them, there’s information that [abortion clinics] closed for reasons that had nothing to do with this law”. Each of the requirements “is extremely burdensome”, she said. The evidence that clinics would or already have closed because of the law was minimal at best.

Separately, the justices also are weighing an emergency appeal from clinics in Louisiana. If Kennedy sides with the state of Texas, that will presumably leave the high court deadlocked 4-4. Nineteen remained open only because the justices voted 5-4 in June to temporarily block the law from taking full effect. If a Republican wins the election (even if it’s Donald Trump), Scalia’s replacement probably will vote to uphold the law, in which case Kennedy will once again have the power to set a national precedent one way or the other.

Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller argued that the resulting burden should not be considered “undue” as long as women “are able to make the ultimate decision to elect the procedure”.

The justices began with 85 minutes of questions for supporters of abortion clinics who argue that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit a woman’s right to an abortion. The brief said the Supreme Court has held since Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case legalizing abortion in the USA, that states may enforce standards regarding the qualifications of doctors who perform abortions and the conditions of facilities in which abortions are carried out.

If the laws are deemed similar, a change in policy would have to happen, specifically in respect to the laws about admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical center regulations, she said. “Well, if that’s all right for the women in the El Paso area, why isn’t it right for the rest of the women in Texas?” Abortion providers assert that the law caused 22 of 41 clinics to close, but the state contests those numbers. There were no abortion clinics in 93 percent of Texas counties, and 35 percent of the state’s women lived in those counties. Keller conceded that such examples weren’t in the record provided to the court. This month we will celebrate the phenomenal contributions of women like Sojourner Truth and Amelia Earhart, as well as living history makers like Lily Ledbetter, Dolores Huerta, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Wendy Davis. Ginsburg shot back, with a hint of exasperation, “Is there really any dispute that childbirth is a much riskier procedure than an early-stage abortion?”

Black cited her 40 years in the nursing field, saying, “I ought to know something about women’s health, and I will tell you that there is no such thing as a safe abortion”. All eight justices will hear oral arguments Wednesday.

Pro-abortion rights protesters rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday.

The court is taking the measure of two major components: One requires abortions be performed at ambulatory surgical centers, which are subject to extensive regulations that specify everything from the width of halls and doorways to air circulation and staffing.