Victory in the Supreme Court

United States Supreme Court (Jun. 27, 2016): Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt:

In a 5-to-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court has overturned a Texas law that threatened to drive more than half of Texas's abortion clinics out of business and place abortion services beyond the reach of countless women. 

Drawing on tenets established in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, the Court struck down a law requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital and requiring clinics performing abortions to meet the standards imposed upon surgical centers. Regarding the admitting privileges requirement, the Court noted that the practice of abortion did not present a safety issue.  Moreover, abortion is safe enough that requiring clinics to meet the requirements of surgical centers would be superfluous.  Finally, the court could not reconcile the law with the lack of regulation of more dangerous surgical procedures and the wide distribution of waivers of the surgical-center requirements to clinics offering non-abortion services.  It declared that the restrictions placed substantial obstacles in the path of women seeking previability abortions in Texas.