When the Supreme Court last heard oral arguments in a landmark abortion case, it was April 1992, the case was Planned Parenthood v Casey, and Sandra Day O’Connor was the lone female justice.
Twenty-four years later, there are three women on the court. And if you count Justice Stephen Breyer as one of history’s great feminists —and I do — then you can view the arguments in this term’s landmark abortion case, Whole Woman’s Health v Hellerstedt, as creating a neat 4–4 split. On one side, you have a group of testy male justices needling a female lawyer for Texas clinics about whether it was even appropriate for them to hear this appeal. On the other, you’ve got four absolutely smoking hot feminists pounding on Texas’ solicitor general for passing abortion regulations that have no plausible health purpose and also seem pretty stupid.
When the Supreme Court hears arguments this week in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt — the Center for Reproductive Rights’ challenge to the unprecedented barriers Texas created in 2013 to stop women from accessing safe and legal abortion — the first question justices should ask is this:
If the state bars you from exercising a constitutional right, do you really have that right at all?
That’s what’s at stake in Hellerstedt, which challenges the Texas legislature’s H.B. 2, a law imposing medically unnecessary requirements on health centers, regulating everything from the width of hallways to the outfitting of janitors’ closets — specifications that many health centers find impossible to fulfill and that do nothing to improve the quality of health care for women. Medical experts oppose this law because it hurts women by shutting down clinics and blocking access to safe, legal abortion — our right guaranteed by the court in Roe v. Wade.
GOP’s War On Women Continues
This week, the GOP proved that they have no intention of backing down from their War On Women. Oppressive anti-choice measures are making their way through GOP-controlled legislatures in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Here are a few of the restrictions that would go into effect under these bills:
- In Mississippi, a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, WITHOUT exceptions for rape or incest.
- In Oklahoma, a requirement that the state Board of Health, which includes non-physicians, impose tighter standards on abortion care providers, standards even Doctor and GOP State Rep. Randy Grau said were unnecessary.
- In Louisiana, a bill passed the House that would impose tough new requirements on abortion providers, similar to restrictions passed in Texas last year. It could force 3 of the 5 clinics in the state to close.
- In Alabama:
- A ban on abortions where a fetal heartbeat can be detected, even when the mother’s health is at risk, and up to 10 years in jail time for any doctor who violates this ban.
- Tighter restrictions on women under 18 years old in need of abortions.
- A Requirement that women seeking an abortion because of lethal fetal anomalies must be advised of the availability of perinatal hospice services.
We were so pleased to discover that a key provision of HB2– the Texas abortion bill that Wendy Davis famously filibustered this summer – had been found unconstitutional. A federal judge has thrown out the hospital privileges requirement, a draconian measure which would block women’s access to safe abortions.
But we weren’t celebrating for long – within minutes, Texas GOP Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed the ruling. This is why we need people like Wendy Davis in office – the kind of leader who raises the voices of Texas women for the protection of access to sound medical care.