Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Law

UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas abortion law Monday that would have shut down 75 percent of clinics across the state, a major win for pro-choice advocates in the fight for abortion access.

The eight-justice court voted 5-3 to invalidate the state's 2013 law that said any clinics providing abortion must meet the same standards as surgical centers, some of the strictest standards of care in the United States.

Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the provisions in the Texas law "vastly increase the obstacles confronting women seeking abortions in Texas without providing any benefit to women’s health capable of withstanding any meaningful scrutiny."

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman called the decision a landmark victory for women’s health and is definitive rejection of Texas’s claims that the state’s law protected women’s health.

This ruling, the most significant abortion decision in a generation, puts states on notice that they cannot adopt restrictions that unduly burden or deny a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion,” he said in a prepared statement.

“In a concurring opinion, Justice Ginsburg movingly spotlights the women whose desperation in the face of such abortion restrictions would drive them to unlicensed rogue practitioners at great risk to their health and safety. Today marks a decisive step forward in the fight for reproductive freedom, and a turning point away from a period of endless restrictions whose sole purpose is to block women from exercising their right to choose,” Schneiderman said.

At issue was whether the restrictions put an "undue burden" on a woman's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy before the fetus attains viability.

Opponents of the law said women in Texas already have a tough time getting abortions because the number of clinics has been drastically reduced; should the law be upheld, they said, Texas could be left with only nine functioning abortion clinics for a state with 13.5 million women and girls.

Texas argued that the law improved safety at clinics. Breyer said the court found no such evidence that was true.

"We add that, when directly asked at oral argument whether Texas knew of a single instance in which the new requirement would have helped even one woman obtain better treatment, Texas admitted that there was no evidence in the record of such a case," he wrote.

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Under the law, known as House Bill 2, any doctor providing abortion services must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where he or she practices.

Additionally, any clinic that offered abortion services must have met the same building standards as an ambulatory surgical center, such as having hallways and elevators wide enough to accommodate a full-size gurney.

The new requirements put a particular hardship on abortion providers in rural areas of Texas. Of the state's 254 counties, 63 do not have a hospital and 27 do not have a primary care physician. There are 16 counties with only one physician for the entire population.

Opponents of the law, such as the Center for Reproductive Rights, claimed that HB 2 unfairly singled out women's health care providers.

They pointed out that clinics and doctors performing other, medically comparable, procedures do not have to abide by the same requirements.

Additionally, prior to the passage of HB 2 more than 40 facilities across Texas provided abortions. After the law went into effect in September 2015, the number dropped to 19.

Pro-life politicians across Texas had hailed the passage of HB 2 as a way to make women's healthcare safer. In March 2014, state Rep. Molly White, R-Belton, told a Central Texas Tea Party group that Texas is "now the safest state in the country to get an abortion."