The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case with far-reaching implications on how tightly states can regulate abortions clinics.
At issue is a 2013 Texas law requiring abortion services meet standards applied to ambulatory surgical centers. The bill, signed by then-Gov. Rick Perry, also requires doctors providing abortion services to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
“The state has wide discretion to pass laws ensuring Texas women are not subject to substandard conditions at abortion facilities,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in a statement released Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. “The advancement of the abortion industry’s bottom line shouldn’t take precedent over women’s health, and we look forward to demonstrating the validity of these important health and safety requirements in court.”
Nancy Northup of the Center for Reproductive Rights said the justices’ decision on Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole will have an enormous effect on the public policy landscape.
“This is really going to be a defining moment for the Supreme Court in terms of whether or not we’re going to continue to have the strong core protections that we’ve been seeing,” said Northup, NBC News reported.
Supreme Court Justices 2015
Opponents claim Texas’ law say lawmakers crafted it not to protect women’s health, but to simply shut down abortion clinics. The law’s passage prompted 23 of 42 abortion service providers to close.
The challengers’ brief written by abortion providers said the law, “would delay or prevent thousands of women from obtaining abortions and lead some to resort to unsafe or illegal methods of ending an unwanted pregnancy,” the New York Times reported Friday.
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in June that courts must defer to the legislature if “any conceivable rationale exists” for the abortion statute in question. A three-judge panel reversed a decision by U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel saying the Texas law placed an undue burden on abortion services providers without medical justification, the Journal reported.
Justices will hear the case early next year and issue a ruling by late June.
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