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The law was predicted to shut down numerous clinics and greatly reduce the availability of abortion procedures in Texas. The court ruled that the regulations caused an undue burden and therefore violated the Constitution.
The case involved a challenge to a Texas law called HB2, which requires that all doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where the abortion takes place. But here’s the kicker — because the complication rate from abortions is so minuscule, most abortion providers can’t meet the minimum number of admittance that hospitals require before granting privileges. Nationwide, childbirth is 14 times more likely than abortion to result in death, but Texas law allows a midwife to oversee childbirth in the patient’s own home.
Second, the HB2 requires that abortion clinics meet elaborate statutory hospital-grade standards, including wide corridors, large rooms, and other expensive construction and equipment standards that don’t apply to other outpatient facilities where other surgical procedures like liposuction and colonoscopies take place. These provisions also apply to doctors who manage medication-induced abortions, which involves giving the patient two pills and sending her home, so why a wide corridor would be necessary is not quite clear.
These restrictions would block three-quarters of the state’s clinics from providing abortion services, meaning up to 900,000 women wanting an abortion would need to drive more than 300 miles round-trip to reach a clinic that met regulations.
Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, while Anthony Kennedy joined the liberal justices to create the majority.
This decision will have consequences around the US. Several states including Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Missouri, North Dakota, Alabama, Louisiana, Kansas and Mississippi have laws (either in effect or currently blocked) with similar requirements to that of Texas. If those laws are found to be essentially the same as Texas’ law, they too will be thrown out by the courts.
Source: matadornetwork.com