More than 100 women shared their personal stories of abortion with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy ahead of Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the biggest abortion case to go to the Supreme Court in almost a decade. These women, according to a brief signed by over 110 lawyers who have had abortions they do not regret, “are united in their strongly-held belief that they would not have been able to achieve the personal or professional successes that they achieved were it not for their ability to obtain safe and legal abortions.”
In July 2013, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed HB 2, which put into law more stringent requirements for abortion clinics. This includes requiring physicians performing abortions to have admitting rights at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic and requiring clinics to meet standards equal to those of surgical centers in hospitals — even clinics that only perform non-surgical and early stage abortions.
According to state lawmakers, the requirements are to ensure the safety of women seeking abortions. But the women filing the briefs — as well as prominent medical groups such as the American Medical Association — argue that the law simply aims to restrict women’s access to abortion clinics. Of the state’s 41 clinics, more than half have already been closed, and if the law is upheld the number would dwindle down to about 10.
