Currently being deliberated in the Supreme Court is an abortion case, one whose decision will be momentous with either outcome. The Texas abortion law in question is HB-2, which requires abortion clinics to have admitting privileges in nearing hospitals and meet the standards of ambulatory outpatient surgical centers. When HB-2 was first implemented, the number of clinics was reduced from 36 to 22 on November 11, 2013. The number then rose to 25 on January 13, 2014 as a few Planned Parenthood and Whole Women’s Health clinics were reinstated. However, a new massive round of closures decimated the amount and by October 14, 2014 a mere 8 clinics remained available to millions of women in America’s second largest state.
On June 9, 2015, the Supreme Court took action and placed a hold on HB-2’s outpatient surgical center requirement, which increased the number of clinics to 10. The case regarding the constitutionality of Texas’ law was formally submitted by lawyers from The Center for Reproductive Rights after a federal appeals court upheld it. Lawyers from both sides presented their arguments to the justices on March 7, 2016 with a growing crowd of pro and anti abortion demonstrators.
A lot is at stake with the Supreme Court’s decision on HB-2. Texas solicitor general, Scott Keller, argues that the law was created with the protection of women’s health and abortion safety in mind; the two requirements HB-2 has for abortion clinics would upgrade the facilities to hospital level standards. However, these requirements have shuttered more than three quarters of clinics and approximately 1.5 million women now have to travel over 100 miles to attain these services. Keller reasons that these women could simply go to New Mexico to obtain the procedure. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fires back during the proceeding that New Mexico’s clinics would not meet the requirements HB-2 enforces to “protect women’s health and abortion safety.”
If the Supreme Court upholds this Texas law, it would set a precedent for other states to follow. Similar restrictive legislatures would be passed and abortion will become even more scarce to the public. Even today, a bill in Oklahoma was passed to criminalize doctors who performed abortions. Though it was ultimately vetoed by the Oklahoma governor, it’s a case that shows how severe and harsh abortion legislation is becoming. Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt is on the path to becoming modern day’s Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The Supreme Court is expected to come to a conclusion late June.