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Advocates React to Supreme Court Abortion Ruling

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On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their practice. In a 5-4 ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Court’s four liberal justices, noting the law in question in June Medical Services v. Russo was identical to a Texas law that the Court ruled unconstitutional four years ago in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

“The Louisiana law at issue was an attempt to undermine access to abortion, and that’s all it was, and I’m glad the court saw this,” said Jamille Fields Allsbrook, director of women’s health and rights at the Center for American Progress. “We are hopeful that this will signal to other states that it’s time to abandon these attempts to restrict abortion. As much as we celebrate this victory, Louisiana still has so many restrictive laws that impede access to abortion.”

In fact, Louisiana has placed so many restrictions on its abortion clinics that only three remain in operation to provide services for the approximately 10,000 women who seek abortions there each year. “In terms of substantive impacts on people in Louisiana seeking abortions, nothing will change as a result of this decision,” said Steffani Bangel, executive director of the New Orleans Abortion Fund. “Louisiana is home to more anti-abortion restrictions than any other state in the U.S. Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, Louisiana has passed 89 laws limiting abortion access. Those restrictions include a forced ultrasound and medically unnecessary counseling appointment, followed by a mandatory 24-hour waiting period, no telemedicine for medication abortion, no Medicaid or private health insurance coverage of abortion, and a 20-week gestational limit. All of these restrictions are intimately experienced by patients seeking abortion care.”

The ruling was far from a clear affirmation of a woman’s right to choose: In his opinion, Roberts reiterated his opposition to the Whole Woman’s Health ruling and made it clear that the basis of his decision was the precedent that had been set in that case. Julie Burkhart, founder and CEO of Trust Women, which provides reproductive health care, including abortions, in underserved communities and operates clinics in Wichita and Oklahoma City, pointed out that the narrow nature of the June Medical Services ruling means that it’s unclear what burdensome regulations states might still be able to impose. “That is potentially troublesome,” she said. “Over the last 10 years, there have been 463 anti-choice laws passed in this country. There is a ballot initiative in Louisiana asking voters if abortion should be legal or not. We need to be going to the polls this fall and voting around reproductive rights. In the last few years, and especially since the election of Trump and the changes at the Supreme Court, people are more aware of what hangs in the balance in this country. In this unprecedented time of a global pandemic, and the focus on the Black Lives Matter movement, and huge momentum around social justice, what we are allowed and not allowed to do with our bodies really matters to people.”

Forty million women of reproductive age live in one of the 29 states that are hostile to abortion rights, according to the Guttmacher Institute report State Abortion Policy Landscape: From Hostile to Supportive. This week’s ruling “is a relief for Black people, Latinas/Latinxs, LGBT people, and anyone struggling to make ends meet who is burdened by lack of access” to health care, reproductive health care, and abortion, said Candace Gibson, associate director of government relations at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice. “But the question remains: How can we support Black and brown people to undo the social inequities so everyone in this country can lead lives of dignity? This pandemic has laid bare the inequities in this country, especially around health care, and that includes abortion care. This is a wake-up call, and it would behoove politicians and policy makers to take note that we must undo this inequality and lack of access. In Louisiana, there is a high rate of maternal mortality, especially among Black women and in communities of color, and having access to a wide range of reproductive health care, including contraception, is crucial.”

The National Center for Lesbian Rights, along with 24 LGBTQ organizations, filed an amicus brief that highlighted the parallel between states trying to evade the 2015 Supreme Court marriage equality ruling and those looking to get around the Whole Woman’s Health decision. “It can take decades to secure a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court affirming rights that are inherent in the Constitution,” said Julianna Gonen, policy director at NCLR. “And once it happens, we have to stay vigilant to ensure that those rights are respected. Just as we could not let states ignore the ruling in Obergefell that recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry, we can’t let them disregard Whole Woman’s Health — and now June Medical — and place abortion care out of reach.”

The case was decided by a thin margin and demonstrates the need for Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, the proposed federal legislation that would protect a woman’s right to choose; it has over 200 co-sponsors and is awaiting action by the House. “We hope this will signal to Congress that we can't just rely on the courts,” said Fields Allsbrook. “I hope this makes people pay attention to the courts. Trump was able to add two Supreme Court justices and has had hundreds of judges confirmed. It is important that people vote this election year so that we can elect a president who will nominate judges that will affirm a woman’s right to choose. We have lost so much ground, and I’m afraid of what four more years of this president would bring.”

This was the first abortion case to come before the Supreme Court with the two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. “Some of us are remembering when Kavanaugh was confirmed and he pledged not to undo precedent, but yet he voted with the minority in this decision,” said Gibson.

The unprecedented number of judges that have been nominated by the Trump administration and confirmed by the Senate led by Senator Mitch McConnell will remain on the bench for decades. “In a time where our nation yearns to move forward progressively, the Trump administration acted to move the dial back decades by filling the courts with conservative judges and justices,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance. “This ploy did not work. The Supreme Court was on the right side of history last week, and they are again today.”



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