The Supreme Court of the United States made a major decision on Abortion Rights. The Court has struck down a Louisiana law which was passed in 2014 which required doctors who provide abortions to have written agreements with local hospitals to transfer patients. These agreements, called “admitting privileges”, are extremely difficult to obtain and extensive research has shown they provide no medical benefit. The law threatened to close all three of Louisiana’s clinics. That would have more than tripled the average distance women in the region would have to travel to access abortion services,
The US Supreme Court has upheld a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion in the most-watched abortion case in decades.
In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts sided with liberal judges to rule that Louisiana’s efforts to restrict access to abortion were unconstitutional and that the law would place an undue burden on women seeking an abortion.
This law is the same as the Texas Law which, the Court struck down in 2016. This time, however, the Court upheld the same Texas Law. In this case just like the Texas case, the Court found that this kind of restriction on abortion, limiting abortions to providers who have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles does not help women’s health and because it places undue burden on women, the same is unconstitutional.
This is a blow to those seeking to restrict abortions and a win for those who want to guarantee women’s right to abortion. The Supreme Court has indirectly made it clear that just because one President picks a different Justice does not mean the law automatically changes. Back in 2016, President Trump promised and pledged to appoint Justices to the Supreme Court who would automatically overturn Roe v Wade, however, we are far from looking at that based on this ruling.
This case has clearly distinguished the Judicial branch from the political branches.
