Supreme Court Rejects Challenges To Abortion Clinic Buffer Zones

AP: Supreme Court Turns Back Challenges To Laws Keeping Abortion Opponents Away From Clinics, Patients
The Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a pair of cases from abortion opponents who say laws limiting anti-abortion demonstrations near clinics violate their First Amendment rights. The majority did not explain their reasoning for turning down the appeals, as is typical, but two conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, disagreed. The cities said the laws were passed to address disturbing behavior from protesters outside of health care clinics. (Whitehurst, 2/24)

Axios: Justice Thomas Urges Supreme Court To Reconsider Free Speech Rules Near Abortion Clinics
Justice Clarence Thomas issued a scathing dissent Monday after the Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging free speech rights around abortion clinics, suggesting he wants to revisit the matter after the court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion in 2022. The high court's move marked a loss for abortion opponents who claimed their First Amendment rights are violated by laws that limit demonstrations near clinics. (Habeshian, 2/24)

In other abortion news —

Cascade PBS: New WA Rule States Abortion Care Must Be Provided In Emergencies
On his way out, former Gov. Jay Inslee directed the state Department of Health to issue a policy ensuring access to emergency abortion care in Washington hospitals. The permanent rule — expected to be finalized soon and supported by Inslee’s successor, Gov. Bob Ferguson — comes at a critical juncture for abortion rights: the growing number of states preventing emergency abortion care through bans that went into effect after the loss of national abortion protections, and the start of President Donald Trump’s second administration. (Burbank, 2/24)

Wyoming Public Radio: Wyoming Bill That Would Likely Close Only Clinic Providing Procedural Abortions Goes To Governor
For the second time in two legislative sessions, Wyoming is poised to enact a law that would likely shut down the only clinic providing procedural abortions in the state. It would require Wellspring Health Access in Casper to become a licensed ambulatory surgical center. That means the clinic would need to renovate some of its doorways and halls. It would also mandate the clinic’s physicians to get admitting privileges for their patients at a hospital no more than 10 miles away from Wellspring, which was set on fire in 2022 and protested by anti-abortion activists on a weekly basis since it reopened in 2023. (Clements, 2/24)

Oklahoma Voice: Oklahoma Lawmakers Reject Giving Women Death Penalty, Abortion Abolitionists Vow Fight Isn’t Over  
A bipartisan coalition of state senators rebuffed a bill that could have subjected women who receive an abortion to the death penalty, but supporters are vowing to resurrect it. “We abolishioners will not rest until we have effected the abolishment of human abortion,” said Alan Maricle, who is part of the Abolitionist Society of Tulsa. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in a bipartisan vote killed Senate Bill 456 by Sen. Dusty Deevers. (Hoberock, 2/24)

Mother Jones: The Anti-Abortion Movement Is Splintering
Earlier this month, Kristan Hawkins, head of the influential anti-abortion group Students for Life of America, told her 85,000 followers on X that a particularly militant faction of anti-abortion activists worried her more than pro-choice protesters. “The sad thing is the people I fear getting shot by, most of the time, aren’t crazy Leftists (most of them don’t have guns or how to use them, lol)…but ‘abolitionists,’” she posted. “Think about that.” The post appeared to be in response to allegations that Hawkins and other pro-life leaders had thwarted a recent bill in North Dakota that would have criminalized abortion. Those accusations came from the group that Hawkins mentioned in her tweet: “abolitionists,” or activists who believe that abortion should be completely illegal with no exceptions. (Butler, 2/24)