BREAKING: A 5-3 Majority Has Struck Latest Texas Abortion Restrictions Law

Texas law is struck nearly in entirety; Fifth Circuit reversed -- in essence, the Court holds both provisions were designed to place an undue burden on a woman's right to control her own body. To make a long story short, the Court struck down both provisions of Texas HB 2 -- the admitting privileges requirement, and the requirement that all abortion clinics have facilities comparable to an outpatient surgical center.

Here is the opinion:

. . . .Both the admitting-privileges and the surgical-center requirements place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, constitute an undue burden on abortion access, and thus violate the Constitution. . . .

[Justice Ginsberg, concurring:] . . . ."So long as this Court adheres to Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973), and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833 (1992), Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers laws like H. B. 2 that "do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion," Planned Parenthood of Wis., 806 F. 3d, at 921, cannot survive judicial inspection. . . ."

More soon -- on a train. But this is the best possible outcome. Well done, SCOTUS!

UPDATING, now -- as many others are opining, this likely means many of the southern states' amended anti-abortion laws are similarly invalid. That would include Mississippi, Alabama and presumably Louisiana as well, now. The Courts of Appeals in those cases will read today's Supreme Court case, and likely send the cases back, to the trial level courts, in each of these states -- with instructions to follow the law, as announced by the Supremes today. This means most of the copy-cat laws are going to be struck, almost entirely. This is a victory for reproductive freedom everywhere.

Justice Breyer wrote "Abortions taking place in an abortion facility are safe — indeed, safer than numerous procedures that take place outside hospitals and to which Texas does not apply its surgical-center requirements. . . ." after reviewing the evidence. "Nationwide, childbirth is 14 times more likely than abortion to result in death, but Texas law allows a midwife to oversee childbirth in the patient’s own home. . . ." That is particularly telling.