The Supreme Court has reversed a Fifth Circuit ruling on a Texas law that essentially restricted women’s access to abortion services. The Court ruled 5-3 in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, considered by many on both sides of the issue a major challenge to the rights established in Roe v. Wade, the iconic 1973 decision by the Court that made abortion legal.
The Texas law, which was called (like the North Carolina bathroom law) HB-2, created extremely rigorous restrictions on facilities where abortions were available. Opponents — and ultimately SCOTUS — saw the restrictions as a way to circumvent the rights protected by Roe v. Wade. The 2013 law has been effective, forcing more than half of Texas abortion clinics to close after being unable to meet the more stringent requirements. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the majority decision. A dozen states have similar laws that will likely now face similar fates. Hillary Clinton praised the decision as a “victory for women across America.”
SCOTUS’s decision is a victory for women in Texas and across America. Safe abortion should be a right—not just on paper, but in reality. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 27, 2016
