Texas Clinics Can Stay Open, But the War on Abortion Access is Far From Over

[Novara]

Texas Clinics Can Stay Open, But the War on Abortion Access is Far From Over

Yesterday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing two new requirements – requiring abortion clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers and requiring providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Justice Kennedy joined Justices Kagan, Breyer, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor to keep 10 endangered clinics open while the Court decides whether to hear the appeal.

So what does this mean? Well, it means a lot of things. First and foremost, it means that Texas abortion clinics can stay open because the Supreme Court has ruled that they do not have to comply with some of the restrictive provisions set forth in HB2. If this law is allowed to go into effect, all but nine clinics will be forced to close. As our own Gina Loukareas noted, 5.4 million Texas women of reproductive age, in the second largest state in America, would be forced to travel hundreds of miles to access a safe abortion. For low-income women, this will not be an option. Many are already taking matters into their own hands as other facets of this heinous bill have imposed other onerous restrictions. But remember: this is just a stay, which is a temporary order while the Court decides whether or not it wants to hear the appeal brought forth by those trying to preserve safe abortion care in Texas (including Whole Women’s Health and our allies at the Center for Reproductive Rights).

Yesterday was also a tepid victory for Mississippi women. The Supreme Court took no action in response to the state’s petition allowing them to close the last abortion clinic in the entire state, Jackson Women’s Health Center. Because the Supreme Court took no action, the previous hold on the TRAP law designed to close the clinic is still in effect, which means that, for the next few months, anyway, the clinic stays open. Often called The Pink House because of its colorful exterior, this clinic is it for Mississippi women. In a state where nearly a quarter of its citizens live below the poverty line, traveling out of state simply isn’t an option. It’s either the Pink House or no safe abortion care. (To learn more about the Pink House, read our Clinic Escort Story with Pink House defender Michele Colon.)

The Texas ruling and the lack of action on the Mississippi case signal that the Supreme Court will almost certainly take up a case about abortion rights, possibly even this one. While liberals are decidedly giddy about this ideologically conservative Supreme Court upholding Obamacare (twice), legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, and upholding the Fair Housing Act, we cannot mistake these rulings for an overall trend, particularly when it comes to abortion rights. If there is a trend with the Supreme Court regarding abortion, it is almost always restrictive. Just nine years ago, in Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court upheld the federal ban on an uncommon second trimester abortion procedure called dilation and evacuation (D and E). In 1992’s Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court did uphold the right to an abortion, but said that states can restrict abortion without imposing an “undue burden” on women seeking that care. If laws designed to close every safe abortion clinic in the state isn’t an undue burden, I don’t know what is.

Let’s also remember that the stay was granted on a razor thin 5-4 order; Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito would all have denied the stay. On this issue (and many others, it seems), Justice Kennedy is the swing vote, and in this instance he swung our way. But Justice Kennedy’s track record is anything but comforting; he has shown no qualms about restricting abortion rights. So essentially, your right to access a safe and legal abortion rests on how he rules on this issue. Women’s reproductive rights are in the hands of a man. How appropriate.

It is heartening to see the Supreme Court step in to preserve what little access is left in Texas. But it’s important to remember that this is only temporary, and as of now, it only applies to Texas. Sadly, the attacks on safe abortion access aren’t limited to the Lone Star state.

Read more: http://www.aisfor.org/texas-clinics-can-stay-open-but-the-war-on-abortion-access-is-far-from-over/#sthash.U7HLhdOY.dpbs