Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Momentous Abortion Case Heard By Kansas Supreme Court
The Associated Press: Kansas Supreme Court Receptive To Protecting Abortion Rights
Kansas’ highest court appeared receptive Thursday to declaring for the first time that the state constitution recognizes abortion rights, with a majority of the justices skeptical of the state’s argument against the idea as it defended a ban on a common second-trimester procedure. (Hanna, 3/16)
KCUR: Kansas Supreme Court Hears Arguments In ‘Right To Abortion’ Case
In what is certain to shape up as one of its most important decisions in years, the Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday morning on whether the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights enshrines a right to abortion. The case is on appeal from the Kansas Court of Appeals, which, in an evenly divided decision last year ruled that the state Constitution recognizes a “fundamental right to abortion.” The appeals court affirmed a lower court decision by Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks blocking a Kansas law banning the second-trimester abortion method known as “dilation and evacuation.” Hendricks found that the law imposes an “undue burden” on women seeking an abortion. (Margolies, 3/16)
In other news —
Austin American-Statesman: Austin Abortion Clinic Is First To Reopen Since Supreme Court Ruling
Whole Woman’s Health, the abortion clinic that sued the state of Texas over 2013 abortion restrictions and won at the U.S. Supreme Court last year, will reopen its Austin location next month. The clinic, in Northeast Austin, had closed in 2013 after then-Gov. Rick Perry signed a law that required abortions to be performed in hospital-like surgical centers and that doctors have admitting privileges in nearby hospitals. Whole Woman’s Health challeged those provisions of the law on the grounds that they restricted access to the procedure. (Chang, 3/16)
