After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning against a Texas law imposing restrictions on abortion providers, the ACLU of Kansas has called for the repeal of restrictive abortion laws in Kansas.
“When the Texas law was passed in 2013, Texas had 42 clinics providing abortion services. Since then, the number of clinics has dropped to 19,” stated Micah Kubic, executive director of the Kansas ACLU. “The number of in-state abortion providers could have dropped to as few as 10 if Texas had prevailed. That threat is no longer imminent, since the Supreme Court again ruled that a woman has the constitutional right to make decisions about her own healthcare and cannot face an undue burden in seeking a safe and legal abortion.”
The vote of the Supreme Court today was 6- 4. The majority opinion was written by Justice Stephen Breyer, while dissenting opinions were written by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The decision quoted from an earlier ruling that said while the state had an interest in making sure abortions were performed under safe circumstances for the patient, a law that puts substantial obstacles in the way did not serve those ends.
The ACLU’s Kubic wrote: “Gov. Brownback and Kansas legislators have passed the nation’s most extreme agenda of harassment and intimidation of woman and doctors. Kansas has attempted to block women from the most common method used in second-trimester abortions. This morning’s Supreme Court ruling demonstrates that Kansas’s outside-the-mainstream restrictions will not pass constitutional muster. In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, it is time for Kansas to repeal its dangerous, unnecessary, and unconstitutional restrictions on women’s healthcare. Lawmakers do not belong in the exam room. We call on Gov. Brownback and lawmakers to stand up for women and stop blocking access to healthcare. They are wasting time and taxpayer money by continuing to pursue restrictions that won’t pass constitutional muster.”
For more information, visit http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/15-274_p8k0.pdf.