This morning, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5-3 decision, struck down two Texas laws that sought to limit all meaningful access to abortion care in the state by imposing medically unnecessary and burdensome requirements on abortion providers. The Supreme Court’s decisions blocks enforcement of the Texas laws – mirrored in a number of other states – and reinforces the Court’s decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey which held that states may not place “substantial obstacles” in the paths of women seeking abortion care.

The following may be attributed to Lorie Chaiten of the ACLU of Illinois:

The Court’s decision today is a strong rejection of the efforts of legislatures across the country to shut down abortion care under the guise of protecting women. As Justice Ginsburg noted in her concurring opinion, the Texas laws– demanding that doctors in abortion clinics have admitting privileges at local hospitals and that the clinics themselves become the functional equivalent of small hospitals – were not intended to advance women’s health, but had the purpose and effect of making it more difficult for women in Texas to get abortions.

We are pleased that the Court has spoken directly to the effort to limit meaningful access to abortion care in the United States. This is a good day for women in America.

Learn More:

Read about the case Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt