One of the most successful tactics of the pro-life movement has been to pass state laws requiring that abortion clinics measure up to the standards required of hospitals and other surgical centers. Since most of abortion mills are unsanitary hell-holes, few can comply and they have to shut down.
Texas passed such a law, and half their abortuaries have shut down, going from 40 to 20. But then the Supreme Court put a hold on the law; otherwise, only 10 would remain.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear the case. It will do so, however, without the late Antonin Scalia, who was consistently pro-life. But if there is a 4-4 split, the Texas law will stand, since it was upheld by an appeals court. Similar laws in other states, though, have been overturned by courts, and a split decision will mean those overturns will also stand. From Abortion Case Returns to Supreme Court After Loss of Scalia – ABC News:
The Supreme Court challenge to a Texas law that has dramatically reduced the number of abortion clinics in the state is the justices’ most significant case on the hot-button issue in nearly a quarter-century.
One of this election-year term’s biggest cases is being argued Wednesday before a court altered by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. He was perhaps the most vociferous abortion opponent among the nine justices.
The Texas law has been replicated across the South and elsewhere, part of a wave of state abortion restrictions in the past five years. . . .
A Texas law enacted in 2013 requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. It also prohibits clinics from providing abortions unless they meet the standards of outpatient or ambulatory surgical centers.
The high court has partially blocked those measures. If allowed to take full effect, all but 10 clinics in Texas would have to close. There would be no abortion providers in the state’s rural areas or west of San Antonio. The only clinic in the Rio Grande Valley would be allowed to remain open on a limited basis. Before the law was passed, there were roughly 40 clinics in the state. About half have closed. . . .
Without Scalia, the best that supporters of these laws can hope for is a 4-4 tie, which would uphold the appeals court’s endorsement of the Texas law and perhaps affect similar laws in Louisiana and Mississippi because they are part of the same judicial circuit as Texas.
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