SCOTUS temporarily halts Texas abortion law
A sign of things to come?
Could the Supreme Court’s latest actions result in a set-back for the pro-life community?
Wednesday, 10 of Texas’ 19 abortion clinics were set to close thanks to a law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2013. The law that would’ve required abortion clinics to maintain hospital-like standards was enough to force 10 clinics out of the abortion business. Those standards included, “minimum sizes for rooms and doorways, pipelines for anesthesia and other infrastructure,” according to the Texas Tribune.
In addition to the hospital-like standards requirement, physicians conducting abortions were required to, “have admitting privileges at local hospitals,” reported the Washington Post.
The law in question was the result of HB 2. HB 2 was thrust into the national spotlight when failed gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis and her pink Nikes filibustered the bill for approximately eleven hours. The filibuster failed to prevent the bill’s eventual passing.
“On June 9, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld most provisions of the state’s strict abortion law, and then denied a request from abortion providers to delay the implementation of the abortion restrictions until they appealed to the high court. Abortion providers then turned to the Supreme Court, asking it to intervene before the restrictions went into effect,” reports the Texas Tribune.
Monday, the Supreme Court placed the law on hold.
The Washington Post reports:
The 5 to 4 ruling came in response to a request by abortion rights groups, which previously lost an appeal and had asked the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis. The ruling blocks the law until the court can give the law a more thorough review, perhaps as early as next fall. The court’s conservative bloc, however, would have denied the request, the order says.
Voting against delaying enactment of Texas’ law were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel A. Alito and Clarence Thomas.
The Texas Tribune reports:
Attorneys for the abortion providers had told the high court that the ruling would create “a severe shortage of abortion services” and that it would be difficult to increase “operational capacities” at remaining clinics because of how hard it is for doctors to obtain admitting privileges.
The admitting privileges provision closed about half the 41 abortion facilities that were operating in the state before the restrictions went into effect.
The abortion providers must still file their appeal to the Supreme Court, which is not scheduled to hear arguments until October, when its next term begins.
Given their decision Monday, it’s highly likely the Supreme Court will take this case in the fall term.
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Comments
I guess killing babies isn’t a crime, as long as you do it with surgical instruments and not a hammer….what is wrong with these people?
This thing is hilarious. Why do abortion doctors get special privileges that other doctors don’t get? I thought that the left didn’t want to go back to coat hanger abortions? So if we must impose rules on and standards for “safety” on doctors a favorite topic of liberals then why do abortion doctors get a pass?
That’s easy enough to explain. Abortion doctors are the high priests of the Leftist’s religion. Of course they get “special privileges.”
“Some people are more equal than others” is the real message of the prior 3 days.
To win privileges at an accredited hospital, doctors must be able to demonstrate a high level of competence because the lives and health of their patients depend upon them, and hospitals would face enormous liability for granting privileges to incompetents.
In contrast, abortion “doctors” are only concerned with killing as many “patients” as quickly as possible to maximize revenues, and getting the ex-mothers out the door so at least they won’t die on the premises.
Why is it hard for them to win privileges? Not much demand for quick kills in a hospital – but they could earn privileges quickly if the Nazis open up a local concentration camp.
SCOTUS – Supreme CIRCUS of the Untied States. Their motto: “Marbury v Madison” was only the start!
Yep, keeping abortion “safe & rare”.
TX ought to ignore SCOTUS. Obama set the precedent of dismissing the law and the courts; SCOTUS followed in Obama’s footsteps. TX can show them everyone can play that game. Make the Left live up to what they say and do.
Amen, and then begin impeach proceedings against the 5. They don’t know when to quit. We need to show them.
To clarify, the Obama Admin set the tone with Obamacare-related executive orders, effectively saying the words don’t have to mean what they say.
SCOTUS took up that mantle in 2012 (the individual-mandate-penalty-that-is-not-a-tax is Constitutional under Congress’ power to tax, which only works if said non-tax penalty is, in fact, a tax), and expanded it last week (an exchange set up by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the federal government qualifies as an “exchange set up by the State”, despite the fact that the federal government and the Secretary are not, in fact, States, even as the word “State” is defined in that very legislation).
These are not the first cases where this happened, just the most recent and among the most egregious. See Wickard v. Fillburn (holding that a law prohibiting a corn farmer from growing “extra” corn [beyond the quota he is allowed to grow for sale] for his own use is Constitutional, because then he wouldn’t have to buy it from the open market, which affects interstate commerce).
SCOTUS has dispelled entirely its illusion of legitimacy.
So roughly 50% of the abortion clinics in the state are so medically deficient that they are unable to provide proper medical treatment to a patient who is suffering from a medical complication due to abdominal surgery. I think I can see a small flaw in the logic of those who claim they are only interested in the mother’s life here.
My thought exactly. No credible birth center would allow an OB/GYN to attend live births without hospital admitting privileges.
Why should an “intentional non-live-birth” doctor be any different?
Democrats, progressive liberals, and other amoral, opportunistic individuals believe that sacrificial rites (i.e. wicked solution) are necessary to realize environmental stability. They have replaced due process with their pro-choice doctrine and ensure that only human lives that are innocent beyond a reasonable doubt are killed in “Planned Parenthood” et al and an undisclosed number of “Gosnell” clinics.
Is “Black Lives Matter” an appropriate sign to put outside abortion clinics? Blacks make up around 12% of our population but are responsible for about 32% of all abortions. But, we don’t have the courage to have that conversation do we Eric?
Dead mothers are a small price to pay for dead babies. Abortion Barbie says so!
Why do the ladies holding the signs always look like the last ladies on earth who would need an abortion? Reminds me of the story about the guy’s wife who hunted quail without a shotgun. She uglyed them to death, but he had to leave her home because she was tearing the birds up too much.
More craziness from the left. Obamacare canceled a lot of people’s insurance because it was “substandard” yet SCOTUS has canceled a law that would have shut down substandard abortion clinics.