Supreme Court Justices Overturn Texas Abortion Clinic Restrictions
The justices rule, 5-3, that the provisions requiring doctors to have admitting privileges to a hospital and for abortion clinics to meet hospital-like standards create an "undue burden" for women who are trying to obtain the procedure.
Los Angeles Times:
Supreme Court Overturns Texas Abortion Restrictions
The justices, by a 5-3 vote, said Monday that Texas lawmakers went too far by imposing unnecessary regulations that had forced most of the state’s abortion clinics to go out of business. The decision is the court's clearest pronouncement since 1992 on abortion, and it makes clear that states may not impose health regulations that severely restrict the right to abortion (Savage, 6/27)
The Washington Post:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Clinic Restrictions
The challenged Texas provisions required doctors who perform abortions at clinics to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and said that clinics must meet hospital-like standards of surgical centers. Similar restrictions have been passed in other states, and officials say they protect patients. But abortion providers and medical associations say the rules are unnecessary and so expensive or hard to satisfy that they force clinics to close. (Barnes, 6/27)
USA Today:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Abortion Restrictions
“We conclude,” Justice Breyer wrote, “that neither of these provisions offers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes. Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access, and each violates the Federal Constitution.” (Wolf, 6/27)
NPR:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Abortion Restrictions In Texas
Opponents of the law said the restrictions would block three-quarters of the state's clinics from providing abortion services, meaning 900,000 women of child-bearing age would need to drive more than 300 miles round-trip to reach a clinic that provides abortions. (6/27)
Austin American-Statesman:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Regulations
Writing in dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas said the majority ruling “exemplifies the court’s troubling tendency to bend the rules when any effort to limit abortion, or even to speak in opposition to abortion, is at issue.” (Lindell, 6/27)
The New York Times:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Restrictions
Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented. (Liptak, 6/27)
Houston Chronicle:
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Part Of Controversial Texas Anti-Abortion Law
While the case has made its way through the legal system, the reality of abortion in Texas has changed dramatically. More than half of the 41 abortion clinics in operation before the law's passage already have shuttered, mostly due to the admitting privileges mandate, while wait times have risen and the number of abortions has dropped. (Rosenthal, 6/27)
Dallas Morning News:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas’ Abortion Restrictions
“Today, the Supreme Court affirmed what we at Whole Woman’s Health have known all along—that every woman, no matter where she lives, deserves access to compassionate, respectful, and comprehensive care from a clinic she trusts, said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, which operates three abortion facilities in the state and served as lead plaintiff in the case. “Today justice was served.” (Leslie and Martin, 6/27)
CNN:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Access Law
The ruling will have major reverberations on the presidential election, where the fate of the Supreme Court has been front-and-center after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February. Senate Republicans have refused to act on President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, leaving the court with eight justices. (de Vogue and Berman, 6/27)
Politico:
Supreme Court Strikes Restrictive Texas Abortion Law
In a pair of tweets Hillary Clinton immediately hailed the ruling. “SCOTUS's decision is a victory for women in Texas and across America. Safe abortion should be a right—not just on paper, but in reality.” “This fight isn't over: The next president has to protect women's health,” the presumptive Democratic nominee added. “Women won't be 'punished' for exercising their basic rights.” That was directed at Donald Trump, who in March suggested that women be punished for having abortions — if the procedure were outlawed — before reversing himself. (Haberkorn, 6/27)
Bloomberg:
Texas Abortion Limits Struck Down by U.S. Supreme Court
The ruling raises new questions about some of the more than 300 abortion restrictions put in place around the country since 2010. Those laws include limits on drug-induced abortions and bans on procedures after specified points in a pregnancy. Abortion-rights advocates called the case the biggest since 1992, when the court reaffirmed the constitutional right to end a pregnancy. (Stohr, 6/27)
Modern Healthcare:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Law
The relatively straightforward decision came as a surprise to many who had worried that the court might be unable to make a clear decision, lacking a ninth member. The Supreme Court has conspicuously avoided making clear decisions in a number of significant cases this term. In February, the death of Justice Antonin Scalia left the court one member short. Last week, the court voted 4-4 in a major case centering on President Barack Obama's plan to protect many undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work legally in the U.S. That tie vote essentially killed Obama's plan. (Schencker, 6/26)
