women’s health

After its Conference today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a brief order (.pdf) temporarily blockimg Texas from enforcing two new requirements that abortion clinic operators say will force many clinics to close. The Court was divided 5-4.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Court blocks Texas abortion law:

The order will keep those rules on hold at least until the Court decides whether to rule on their constitutionality.

One provision requires all doctors performing abortions in the state to have the right to send patients to a nearby hospital, while the other requires all abortion clinics in the state to have facilities equal to a surgical center.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld both provisions.

In a one-paragraph order, the Justices did not explain why they were postponing the law.  If review of the law is denied later, the order will be lifted; if review is granted, it will stay in effect until a final ruling emerges.  The actual petition for review has not yet been filed by the doctors and clinics involved.

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Over the dissent of Justice Antonin “Nito” Scalia, without writing an opinion, “the Supreme Court on Monday silently added an implied measure of protection for the private choice of a woman to seek an abortion, sparing her doctor and her a state-mandated use of vivid fetal images to try to dissuade her.” A gesture in favor of a woman’s abortion choice (Lyle Denniston, SCOTUSblog). “The order has the practical effect of leaving undisturbed a lower-court ruling striking down that law on the premise that it was “ideological in intent and in kind” and thus not a valid form of state regulation of medical practice.”

North Carolina will not be allowed to enact one of the most radical forced ultrasound laws in the country, thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday to avoid reviewing the law. Think Progress reports, Supreme Court Spikes North Carolina’s Forced Ultrasound Law:

The Court’s decision is a victory for reproductive rights proponents, who challenged North Carolina’s law on First Amendment grounds — pointing out that the measure essentially forced doctors to deliver an anti-abortion message on behalf of the state. The justices are allowing to stand a unanimous decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that agreed the law violated doctors’ right to free speech.

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The Forced Birthers who want to end the constitutionally protected right of privacy of a woman to consult with her physician regarding her reproductive health care and to terminate a pregnancy within her “liberty of conscience” (as the Arizona Constitution, Article 2, Section 12 refers to it), have had a litigation strategy for years to get a case back in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in order to force a reconsideration of the landmark Roe v. Wade (1973) (abortion) and Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) (right of privacy/birth control) decisions.

This is why Republican-dominated legislatures keep enacting abortion restrictions that they know are in conflict with the law and Supreme Court precedents. They want a conflict. They hope that one of the appellate courts that Republican presidents have stacked with like-minded conservative activist judges will rule in their favor, giving them the vehicle they need to get a case back in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most conservative activist court of all the appellate courts, through a three judge panel of conservative activist judges appointed by George W. Bush, upheld one of the most onerous anti-abortion laws in the country from the state of Texas.

This puts abortion rights activists in the unenviable position of having to appeal this adverse decision to the U.S. Supreme Court — a risky proposition given that there are six Catholics on the Court, five of whom are conservative activist Justices appointed by Republican presidents. How the Supreme Court would rule remains to be seen, however.

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On Wednesday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the state of Arkansas’ 12-week abortion ban, the most restrictive in the nation. US appeals court rejects Arkansas’ 12-week abortion ban based on fetal heartbeat:

A federal appeals court struck down one of the nation’s toughest abortion restrictions on Wednesday, ruling that women would be unconstitutionally burdened by an Arkansas law that bans abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with doctors who challenged the law, ruling that abortion restrictions must be based on a fetus’ ability to live outside the womb, not the presence of a fetal heartbeat that can be detected weeks earlier. The court said that standard was established by previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

The ruling upholds a decision of a federal judge in Arkansas who struck down the 2013 law before it could take effect, shortly after legislators approved the change. But the federal judge left in place other parts of the law that required doctors to tell women if a fetal heartbeat was present; the appeals court also kept those elements in place.

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