In a landmark decision on abortion that is sure to have ripple effects across the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday morning struck down a Texas law curtailing who can perform abortions and where they can be done.
The 5 to 3 decision is being called the most important since Roe v. Wade, which established the right to legal abortion. This new ruling removes limits on the practice that had been championed by anti-abortion supporters and decried as an all-out assault on a woman’s right to choose by abortion supporters.
The ruling, in effect gets rid of a Texas law which requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges to nearby hospitals. The law also requires facilities that perform abortions to be walk-in surgical centers.
Georgia does not have a similar mandate but some advocates had worried that a high court ruling upholding the Texas statute would embolden state legislators to push for a similar measure here. Georgia currently has 14 abortion clinics, most of them in metro Atlanta. That tally doesn’t include private physicians, who may also perform the procedure.
“There were tears of joy in my eyes today that women win,” said Staci Fox, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast.
Her joy, however, was tempered by the possibility that the ruling will not stop some legislators from trying to enact other laws that restrict abortion.
“This ruling sends a clear message to our general assembly members that it’s not the state’s job to step in and create obstacles to a woman’s right to health care,” Fox said.
Critics of the ruling said it makes clear what is at stake in the November election.
“I think it’s a shame that states don’t have the ability to control their clinics,” said state Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford. “It’s a great, great, great statement to the citizens of Georgia that it does matter who’s elected president. If this doesn’t resonate, I don’t know what else does.”
The number of abortions performed in Georgia has declined since 2010. In 2014, the number of terminations was at 26,485, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Under a so-called “fetal pain” law abortions may not be performed in Georgia if the fetus if beyond 20 weeks. That law is being challenged.
Since the Texas law went into effect, the number of abortion clinics in Texas plummeted from 41 to just under 20. Abortion supporters said the law curtailed women’s access to the procedure by making it more difficult for them to access abortion services. The majority of the eight-member court essentially agreed with that argument, with Justice Stephen Breyer writing for the majority saying the Texas law created an “undue burden” on women.
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