Deep in the heart of Texas, the sneak attack on abortion care has been rebuked by the Supreme Court today. This decision puts the focus back on the constitutional rights of women, proven science and medical fact, and away from partisan politics and draconian attacks on women’s health.
By striking down the admitting privileges requirement and the surgical-center construction mandate, the decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt helps expose TRAP laws for what they are: medically unnecessary regulations designed to be so burdensome that abortion clinics will be forced to close.
As Justice Ginsberg wrote, “In truth, complications from an abortion are both rare and rarely dangerous.”
NOW is deeply relieved that nearly all of the abortion clinics forced to shut down by Texas’s infamous TRAP law may now reopen. Last year, the Supreme Court struck down restrictions on same-sex marriage. Today, the Court has taken the first steps towards consigning TRAP laws to the same dustbin of history.
We will not rest until all women have access to the reproductive health care they seek, free from barriers thrown up by anti-woman ideologues.