On Friday, the Supreme Court made a decision to hear a challenge against a Texas law that put strict requirements on abortion providers in the name of protecting women’s health. This is the first major abortion case that the Supreme Court has agreed to give a voice to in 8 years. This ruling could raises questions about the legal fate of similar laws in more than a dozen other states.
The 2013 law requires abortion clinics to meet the same medical standards as standalone surgery centers, and forces doctors who provide abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals within 30 miles of their clinics.
Conservative groups that approve of the laws say they’ll protect women and prevent abuses like the case of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion provider sentenced to life in jail for first-degree murder.
Gosnell, was a doctor that ran an abortion clinic called the Women’s Medical Society in West Philadelphia.The grand jury report is full of horrific and gruesome details about the clinic that Gosnell ran for more than three decades. Patients were neglected; providers were not certified. Most abortions were done after 24 weeks and at a clinic that was described as a filthy house of horrors.
On May 13, 2013 a jury found Gosnell guilty on three of four charges of murder of babies born in his clinic who were born alive but whom he killed. The jury also found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter from the death of one of his abortion patients.
“Until recently, abortion clinics were held to similar health regulations as beauty salons or public pools,” the March for Life Education & Defense Fund said in a statement.
Supporters of the clinics note that when the laws were passed in 2013, there were more than 40 clinics in the state. Only 10 would remain if the laws are upheld, to serve 5.4 million women of reproductive age.
Whatever the court’s ruling will set precedent for either imposing clinic regulations or cause similar requirements in other states to be challenged. Ten of the 50 U.S. states have imposed requirements similar to those in Texas. Six have enacted laws requiring hospital grade facilities.
The Court’s ruling is set for June.
