The United States Supreme Court, in one of its last rulings of the current term, has struck down a highly restrictive anti-abortion law from Texas by a vote of 5-3. The three dissenting justices were Alito, Roberts, and Thomas.

In 2015, Texas passed one of the most draconian anti-choice laws in the country which was said abortion providers had to have hospital access and make their clinics ambulatory care centers if they performed the procedure. State lawmakers claimed they designed the law to protect the health of women who wanted an abortion. But critics argued that it would have disproportionately affected low-income women who are forced to travel greater distances in order to find a clinic that meets the new tougher standards.

Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the majority, noted:

“There was no significant health-related problem that the new law helped to cure. We agree with the District Court that the surgical-center requirement, like the admitting-privileges requirement, provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions, and constitutes an ‘undue burden’ on their constitutional right to do so.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently said at a speech she gave at Duke University Law School that such laws do not impact women of financial means, and added:

“Let’s assume Roe v. Wade were overruled, and we were going back to each state for itself. Any woman who could travel from her home state to a state that provides access to abortion, and those states never go back to old ways.  So if you can afford a plane ticket, a train ticket or even a bus ticket, you can control your own destiny, but if you’re locked into your native state, then maybe you can’t.”

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had originally upheld part of the Texas law, which came to the Supreme Court as Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. But the Supreme Court has now rejected all of the Texas statute, meaning that dozens of family planning clinics in the state may now reopen or remain open.

It remains to be seen if the GOP-controlled Texas legislature will attempt to craft another law which would limit access to a procedure which is supposed to be legal nationwide.

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