Dive Brief:
- The Supreme Court will hear its first major abortion case, Whole Woman's Health v. Cole, since 2007, a challenge to a Texas law that would leave only 10 abortion clinics in the state. With 5.4 million women of reproductive age, and 60,000 choosing to have an abortion every year, the plaintiffs told the court the case has a vast practical impact.
- The case is focused on two sections of the Texas law, passed in 2013 by a Republican majority legislature. One requires all clinics meet standards for "ambulatory surgical centers," and the other requires physicians performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital nearby.
- Texas officials stand by the law's provisions, saying they protect women's health, but abortion providers say they are expensive, unnecessary and established to put the clinics out of business. The court said it anticipates hearing arguments in the case in early March.
Dive Insight:
The Supreme Court said in 1992 states may regulate abortion, provided they don't put "undue burden" on women seeking an abortion. But, according to the Los Angeles Times, justices have failed to define exactly what that means.
Several Republican states have adopted strict medical regulations that apply only to abortion clinics over the past several years and the lower courts have been split whether these laws violate Roe v. Wade.
Several major medical groups, including the American Medical Association, filed a brief with the Supreme Court stating the Texas regulations "do nothing to protect the health and safety of women."
Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said, "Today the Supreme Court took an important set toward restoring the constitutional rights of millions of women, which Texas politicians have spent years dismantling through deceptive laws and regulatory red tape. We are confident the court will recognize that these laws are a sham and stop these political attacks on women's rights, dignity, and access to safe, legal, essential healthcare."