Supreme Court strikes down Texas abortion clinic regulations
June 27, 2016 By The Associated Press
Activists demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, June 27, 2016, as the justices close out the term with decisions on abortion, guns, and public corruption expected. (Credit: AP)
The Supreme Court issued its strongest defense of abortion rights in a quarter-century Monday, striking down Texas' widely replicated rules that sharply reduced abortion clinics in the nation's second-most-populous state.
By a 5-3 vote, the justices rejected the state's arguments that its 2013 law and follow-up regulations were needed to protect women's health. The rules required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery.
The clinics that challenged the law argued that it was merely a veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions by forcing the closure of more than half the roughly 40 clinics that operated before the law took effect.
Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit women's right to abortions.
Breyer wrote that "the surgical-center requirement, like the admitting privileges requirement, provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions and constitutes an 'undue burden' on their constitutional right to do so."
Thirteen states have similar requirements, enacted as part of a wave of abortion restrictions that states have imposed in recent years. Others include limits on when in a pregnancy abortions may be performed and the use of drugs that induce abortions without surgical intervention.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, the owner of several Texas clinics among her eight facilities in five states, predicted that the decision would "put a stop to this trend of copycat legislation."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the law "was an effort to improve minimum safety standards and ensure capable care for Texas women. It's exceedingly unfortunate that the court has taken the ability to protect women's health out of the hands of Texas citizens and their duly elected representatives."
Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined Breyer's majority.
Ginsburg wrote a short opinion noting that laws like Texas' "that do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion, cannot survive judicial inspection" under the court's earlier abortion-rights decisions. She pointed specifically to Roe v. Wade in 1973 and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992, of which Kennedy was one of three authors.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
Thomas wrote that the decision "exemplifies the court's troubling tendency 'to bend the rules when any effort to limit abortion, or even to speak in opposition to abortion, is at issue.'" Thomas was quoting an earlier abortion dissent from Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February. Scalia has not yet been replaced, so only eight justices voted.
Alito, reading a summary of his dissent in court, said the clinics should have lost on technical, procedural grounds. Alito said the court was adopting a rule of, "If at first you don't succeed, sue, sue again."
Abortion providers said the rules would have cut the number of abortion clinics in Texas to fewer than 10 if they had been allowed to take full effect.
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented the clinics, said, "The Supreme Court sent a loud and clear message that politicians cannot use deceptive means to shut down abortion clinics."
President Barack Obama praised the decision, saying, "We remain strongly committed to the protection of women's health, including protecting a woman's access to safe, affordable health care and her right to determine her own future."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the outcome "a victory for women in Texas and across America."
Abortion opponents had hoped Kennedy, who wrote a 2007 opinion upholding a federal ban on a certain type of abortion, would conclude that states can enact health-related measures to make abortions safer.
Instead, he sided with his four more liberal colleagues.
The court "has stripped from states the authority to extend additional protections to women such as clinic safety standards or admitting privilege requirements for abortionists," said Notre Dame University law professor Carter Snead.
Texas is among 10 states with similar admitting-privileges requirements, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. The requirement is in effect in most of Texas, Missouri, North Dakota and Tennessee. It is on hold in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
The hospital-like outpatient surgery standards are in place in Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and are blocked in Tennessee and Texas, according to the center.
Texas passed a broad bill imposing several abortion restrictions in 2013. Clinics won several favorable rulings in a federal district court in Texas. But each time, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state
Breyer's opinion was a rebuke of the appeals court and a vindication for U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel, who had held a trial on the challenged provisions and struck them down.
Separate lawsuits are pending over admitting-privileges laws in Louisiana and Mississippi, the other states covered by the 5th circuit. The laws are on hold in both states, and a panel of federal appellate judges has concluded the Mississippi law probably is unconstitutional because it would force the only abortion clinic in the state to close.
Comparing what happened to Joan Rivers and what happens to a young woman of childbearing age isn't exactly comparing apples to apples, is it? Both for reasons of age and reasons of difference of procedure.
I really don't care whether it's an abortion, liposuction, a face lift, or you're having a wart removed. Your doctor should have privileges somewhere. Things can, and do, go wrong.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
The clinics that challenged the law argued that it was merely a veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions by forcing the closure of more than half the roughly 40 clinics that operated before the law took effect.
Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit women's right to abortions.
The clinics that challenged the law argued that it was merely a veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions by forcing the closure of more than half the roughly 40 clinics that operated before the law took effect.
Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit women's right to abortions.
flan
So? I'm sure proponents of abortion would like you to be able to get them at your local Starbucks.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
SCOTUS mentioned in their ruling that you are 10 times more likely to die from a colonoscopy but that Texas does not require admitting privileges for doctors doing those procedures and you can have one in a doc's office. This is the point - the laws targeted one medical procedure for no justifiable medical reason.
Oh - you are also 14 times more likely to die from child birth than an abortion but Texas law allows a woman to give birth in her own home.
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Out of all the lies I have told, "just kidding" is my favorite !
SCOTUS mentioned in their ruling that you are 10 times more likely to die from a colonoscopy but that Texas does not require admitting privileges for doctors doing those procedures and you can have one in a doc's office. This is the point - the laws targeted one medical procedure for no justifiable medical reason.
Oh - you are also 14 times more likely to die from child birth than an abortion but Texas law allows a woman to give birth in her own home.
Do you have a link for that, regarding colonoscopies?
SCOTUS mentioned in their ruling that you are 10 times more likely to die from a colonoscopy but that Texas does not require admitting privileges for doctors doing those procedures and you can have one in a doc's office. This is the point - the laws targeted one medical procedure for no justifiable medical reason.
Oh - you are also 14 times more likely to die from child birth than an abortion but Texas law allows a woman to give birth in her own home.
ALL procedures should require admitting privileges. ALL of them. That's about a DOCTOR doing a procedure - and has nothing to do with a woman choosing childbirth at home. If she wanted to give herself a home abortion - can't really stop that, either. This is about regulating DOCTORS that perform procedures, which Texas has the right to do.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
The clinics that challenged the law argued that it was merely a veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions by forcing the closure of more than half the roughly 40 clinics that operated before the law took effect.
Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit women's right to abortions.
flan
So? I'm sure proponents of abortion would like you to be able to get them at your local Starbucks.
Comparing what happened to Joan Rivers and what happens to a young woman of childbearing age isn't exactly comparing apples to apples, is it? Both for reasons of age and reasons of difference of procedure.
BTW, Joan was SURROUNDED by highly qualified doctors of the highest caliber. And, yes, bad things can happen and there are risks to every procedure. But, her situation has NOTHING to do with this whatsoever.
Now, talk to Joan Rivers daughter, about how safe clinics are.
She is suing the clinic, that killed her mother, for millions.
Any clinic, doing any kind of surgery...should have a hospital, waiting in the wings, just in case something goes wrong.
JMHO.
So, you want to eliminate all clinics now? Clinics and ambulatory surgery centers are very safe. And, if you have complications, you will transfer the pt so it isnt' like they are refusing to take a patient so not really sure what is you are proposing other than eliminating them all together. Guess what? People die at hospitals too.
SCOTUS mentioned in their ruling that you are 10 times more likely to die from a colonoscopy but that Texas does not require admitting privileges for doctors doing those procedures and you can have one in a doc's office. This is the point - the laws targeted one medical procedure for no justifiable medical reason.
Oh - you are also 14 times more likely to die from child birth than an abortion but Texas law allows a woman to give birth in her own home.
Do you have a link for that, regarding colonoscopies?
I knew one my vendors niece died having a abortion. I'm not in favor of births at home either. All medical procedures has risk and just because abortion is a heavily political issue doesn't mean it is as safe as getting a wart removed.
SCOTUS mentioned in their ruling that you are 10 times more likely to die from a colonoscopy but that Texas does not require admitting privileges for doctors doing those procedures and you can have one in a doc's office. This is the point - the laws targeted one medical procedure for no justifiable medical reason.
Oh - you are also 14 times more likely to die from child birth than an abortion but Texas law allows a woman to give birth in her own home.
Do you have a link for that, regarding colonoscopies?
I knew one my vendors niece died having a abortion. I'm not in favor of births at home either. All medical procedures has risk and just because abortion is a heavily political issue doesn't mean it is as safe as getting a wart removed.
I know that for years, women had no other option, but today we do.
I know a home birth that went terribly horribly wrong.
__________________
“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
ALL procedures should require admitting privileges. ALL of them. That's about a DOCTOR doing a procedure - and has nothing to do with a woman choosing childbirth at home. If she wanted to give herself a home abortion - can't really stop that, either. This is about regulating DOCTORS that perform procedures, which Texas has the right to do.
- Lawyerlady
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Then the law should have said "providers of all medical procedures, no matter how safe or routine" not "abortion providers".
I think it would be overkill because I don't agree that all procedures should require admitting privileges, but that's one of the issues I had with the law. It was written specifically and exclusively to deny the right to abortion by eliminating available clinics, regardless of what any of the crafters of the law may say. Women could still legally GET them (so the weren't violating Roe v. Wade), but they just wouldn't be able to find a clinic that met the superfluous law. Making it not Texas' fault if women couldn't get one.
SCOTUS mentioned in their ruling that you are 10 times more likely to die from a colonoscopy but that Texas does not require admitting privileges for doctors doing those procedures and you can have one in a doc's office. This is the point - the laws targeted one medical procedure for no justifiable medical reason.
Oh - you are also 14 times more likely to die from child birth than an abortion but Texas law allows a woman to give birth in her own home.
Do you have a link for that, regarding colonoscopies?
It is in the SCOTUS majority opinion.
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Out of all the lies I have told, "just kidding" is my favorite !
Justice Breyer is the one who commented that a colonoscopy is 10 times more dangerous than an abortion. And also a doctor or midwife may attend a home birth - when birth is 14 times more dangerous than an abortion and a home provides literally NO medical safeguards.
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Out of all the lies I have told, "just kidding" is my favorite !
The clinics that challenged the law argued that it was merely a veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions by forcing the closure of more than half the roughly 40 clinics that operated before the law took effect.
Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit women's right to abortions.
flan
So? I'm sure proponents of abortion would like you to be able to get them at your local Starbucks.
ahh yes, but they would have a much better name for them.
DEAR ABBY: You printed a letter from a woman (Nov. 25) whose husband told her while she was pregnant that, if it came to a choice, he would choose the life of the baby over hers. Your response contained a piece of misinformation I would appreciate you correcting for your readers.
You asserted that it is Catholic policy to save the life of the baby over the mother in obstetrical emergencies. Abby, that is one of the oldest but most persistent pieces of misinformation out there! This inaccurate statement has been replayed even in movies in spite of repeated denials by Catholic hospitals and the professionals who render care in them.
The fact is: Catholic policy is abundantly clear on the dignity of both mother and baby, and makes no priority of one over the other. Catholic hospitals operate with the same standards of safety in maternity care and are inspected by the same organizations that inspect non-Catholic maternity programs such as the Joint Commission and the licensing agency of each state. Catholic hospitals must adhere to the same robust standards as every other maternity service in the country.
I would appreciate it if you could assure your readers that, while this makes for good movies and novels, it is not the Catholic position. The dignity of the life of both mother and baby are critically important to all those serving in Catholic health care. Thank you for your help with this. -- SR. CAROL KEEHAN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CATHOLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION
DEAR SISTER CAROL: Since printing that letter, I have received a crash course in ethics at Catholic hospitals. I apologize to you and to my Catholic readers for saying what I did. In the interest of educating my readers, I am sharing some of the enlightening letters I received. Read on:
DEAR ABBY: In the days before blood banks and antibiotics, very few women survived C-sections. Obstetrical complications (now solved by surgical delivery) created a dilemma: Either allow a dysfunctional labor to continue until the child died and could be forcibly dragged or dissected through the birth canal, or perform the surgery that would cause the mother's death.
About the only time such an issue could arise in contemporary America would be in the rare case of a pregnant woman who is discovered to have an aggressive cancer, and has to decide whether to start chemo or radiation therapy that could abort or harm the fetus, or delay until after delivery, which could allow the tumor to grow or metastasize. -- ROBIN T., RICHMOND, CALIF.
DEAR ABBY: Devout Catholics are pro-life in every instance, and, of course, efforts to save both mother and infant are always the rule. But the value of the life of a newborn never surpasses the value of the life of the mother. Never! -- CATHOLIC DOCTOR IN OHIO
You know, any real mother would give her life for her child.
__________________
A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
DEAR ABBY: You printed a letter from a woman (Nov. 25) whose husband told her while she was pregnant that, if it came to a choice, he would choose the life of the baby over hers. Your response contained a piece of misinformation I would appreciate you correcting for your readers.
You asserted that it is Catholic policy to save the life of the baby over the mother in obstetrical emergencies. Abby, that is one of the oldest but most persistent pieces of misinformation out there! This inaccurate statement has been replayed even in movies in spite of repeated denials by Catholic hospitals and the professionals who render care in them.
The fact is: Catholic policy is abundantly clear on the dignity of both mother and baby, and makes no priority of one over the other. Catholic hospitals operate with the same standards of safety in maternity care and are inspected by the same organizations that inspect non-Catholic maternity programs such as the Joint Commission and the licensing agency of each state. Catholic hospitals must adhere to the same robust standards as every other maternity service in the country.
I would appreciate it if you could assure your readers that, while this makes for good movies and novels, it is not the Catholic position. The dignity of the life of both mother and baby are critically important to all those serving in Catholic health care. Thank you for your help with this. -- SR. CAROL KEEHAN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CATHOLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION
DEAR SISTER CAROL: Since printing that letter, I have received a crash course in ethics at Catholic hospitals. I apologize to you and to my Catholic readers for saying what I did. In the interest of educating my readers, I am sharing some of the enlightening letters I received. Read on:
DEAR ABBY: In the days before blood banks and antibiotics, very few women survived C-sections. Obstetrical complications (now solved by surgical delivery) created a dilemma: Either allow a dysfunctional labor to continue until the child died and could be forcibly dragged or dissected through the birth canal, or perform the surgery that would cause the mother's death.
About the only time such an issue could arise in contemporary America would be in the rare case of a pregnant woman who is discovered to have an aggressive cancer, and has to decide whether to start chemo or radiation therapy that could abort or harm the fetus, or delay until after delivery, which could allow the tumor to grow or metastasize. -- ROBIN T., RICHMOND, CALIF.
DEAR ABBY: Devout Catholics are pro-life in every instance, and, of course, efforts to save both mother and infant are always the rule. But the value of the life of a newborn never surpasses the value of the life of the mother. Never! -- CATHOLIC DOCTOR IN OHIO
Thanks for clarifying.
__________________
The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
You know, any real mother would give her life for her child.
You might, I might but some just don't have that feeling.
Then that isn't a mother.
It isn't a woman.
They selfish, self centered, wastes of oxygen.
When someone seeks out to kill their child, they are a monster.
__________________
A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
I am saying that a mother will choose their child over them self.
Not talking about doctors.
A real mom will not seek out to kill her child.
__________________
A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
Some of you seem to buy into a whole lot of nonsense and lies about pregnancy. If the mother's life is in danger, then so is the baby's! It isn't like you need to KILL a baby to save the mother. If the mother needs to deliver, then you deliver either vaginally or prematurely because if you don't deliver the baby and or mom will might die. The treatment is DELIVERY , not abortion. But, carry on with your abortion LIES that you tell to women.
Some of you seem to buy into a whole lot of nonsense and lies about pregnancy. If the mother's life is in danger, then so is the baby's! It isn't like you need to KILL a baby to save the mother. If the mother needs to deliver, then you deliver either vaginally or prematurely because if you don't deliver the baby and or mom will might die. The treatment is DELIVERY , not abortion. But, carry on with your abortion LIES that you tell to women.
That would depend on several factors, wouldn't it?
I am saying that a mother will choose their child over them self.
Not talking about doctors.
A real mom will not seek out to kill her child.
There are situations where I might choose my life over my unborn child's. If I had several small children at home, it would be damn difficult to make a decision to leave them motherless AND add another child to the household.
You can call me names or think I am a terrible mother. I don't really care. I am just being honest that it would not be a slam dunk decision for me.
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Out of all the lies I have told, "just kidding" is my favorite !
I am saying that a mother will choose their child over them self.
Not talking about doctors.
A real mom will not seek out to kill her child.
There are situations where I might choose my life over my unborn child's. If I had several small children at home, it would be damn difficult to make a decision to leave them motherless AND add another child to the household.
You can call me names or think I am a terrible mother. I don't really care. I am just being honest that it would not be a slam dunk decision for me.
And, a lot of Moms would beg a doctor, to save her baby.
Even if it meant that she would die.
I'm sure, that has happened.
But, for ed to say that the Catholic Church/Hospitals...will choose the baby's life, over the Mother's life........is Bull ****.
Some of you seem to buy into a whole lot of nonsense and lies about pregnancy. If the mother's life is in danger, then so is the baby's! It isn't like you need to KILL a baby to save the mother. If the mother needs to deliver, then you deliver either vaginally or prematurely because if you don't deliver the baby and or mom will might die. The treatment is DELIVERY , not abortion. But, carry on with your abortion LIES that you tell to women.
I agree. My daughter most likely would have died if they didn't take the baby. Her blood pressure was sky high and had a swollen liver. They took the baby by c section. My granddaughter was a little over a month early.
There is no way I could live with myself if I wasn't 100% sure I did everything to save my child.
And I don't see how any woman could seek out to kill her baby.
That's not a woman, that's not even a human to me.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
I am saying that a mother will choose their child over them self.
Not talking about doctors.
A real mom will not seek out to kill her child.
There are situations where I might choose my life over my unborn child's. If I had several small children at home, it would be damn difficult to make a decision to leave them motherless AND add another child to the household.
You can call me names or think I am a terrible mother. I don't really care. I am just being honest that it would not be a slam dunk decision for me.
And, a lot of Moms would beg a doctor, to save her baby.
Even if it meant that she would die.
I'm sure, that has happened.
But, for ed to say that the Catholic Church/Hospitals...will choose the baby's life, over the Mother's life........is Bull ****.
Enough with the Catholic bashing.
Especially, when it's lies/myths.
I didn't mention you, Ed, or the Catholic Church. Sorry. Wasn't even referring to any of that. Just referring to what lily posted.
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Out of all the lies I have told, "just kidding" is my favorite !