Excerpt
SUMMARY: The Supreme Court is hearing its first abortion case in nearly a decade, as pro-choice advocates challenge a Texas law they say limits abortion services. Judy Woodruff talks to Marcia Coyle of the National Law Journal for a look inside the high court, and Gwen Ifill gets contrasting views on the case from Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood and Clarke Forsythe of Americans United for Life.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): But first to the Supreme Court, and perhaps the biggest case of this term.
WOMAN: We pray for all of us to have courage.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Activists on both sides were out in force, as the high court heard its first abortion case in almost a decade.
WOMAN: As a religious leader, I believe that every individual has the right to make their own moral decisions.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MAN: Lives are precious to me, even lives conceived in rape, even disabled, even kids that are suffering with multiple surgeries before they’re five. Those kids glorify God.
JUDY WOODRUFF: On the docket, whether a Texas law imposes an undue burden on the right to obtain an abortion. The law passed in 2013, after a filibuster by then-state Senator Wendy Davis that drew national attention. Abortion clinics have to meet something akin to hospital standards and physicians must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic.
The state says its purpose is simply to protect women’s health.
SCOTT KELLER, Solicitor General, Texas: This case is not about overturning Roe vs. Wade. What this case — the issue in this case is, can Texas enact valid patient regulations and improve safety? And when over 210 women annually are hospitalized due to abortion, Texas can.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But opponents say more than half of Texas’ 41 abortion clinics have closed because they can’t meet the new standards. They say the law, known as HB-2, is really a backdoor way to stop abortions.
AMY HAGSTROM MILLER, Plaintiff/CEO, Whole Woman’s Health LLC: It has been a long and arduous road that has led us to this day, but that is nothing compared to what the women of Texas will face if HB-2 is not struck down. This law is cruel and it is harsh and it does nothing to advance medial health for women.
Did you notice the 'As a religious leader' slip of the tongue? "Every individual has the right to make their own moral decisions." One's morals ARE a religious issue and it is unconstitutional to use the law-of-the-land (local, state, federal) to impose your morals on anyone else.
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