Today: the Supreme Court abortion case

From PBS Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly ...



Today the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the biggest challenge to abortion rights since 2007. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the justices will consider whether to strike down a Texas law, HB2, that would leave the state with only nine or 10 clinics, and not a single abortion provider west of San Antonio ... Here Are the Stakes in the Abortion Case Before the Supreme Court Today

From the LA Times - Editorial Post-Scalia Supreme Court to rule on the most important abortion case in two decades

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider arguments in the most important case it has heard on abortion rights in two decades. Whole Woman's Health vs. Hellerstedt is a challenge by a group of abortion clinics to a 2013 Texas law that requires doctors providing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and directs abortion clinics to meet the safety standards of ambulatory surgical centers. These mandates, though they may at first sound reasonable, will in fact dramatically reduce the ability of Texas women to obtain abortions, and for no sound medical reason. The court should make it clear that this aw — like hundreds of others enacted around the country — is an antiabortion measure that has been cynically passed off as a protection for women. The justices should side with the clinics and strike it down ...