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In a groundbreaking win for women’s-reproductive-rights advocates, the Supreme Court has ruled against Texas laws that restrict abortion providers and had the potential to cause hundreds of clinics across the country to close.
It took three months of deliberation, but basically the ruling—which is being called the most significant decision from the Supreme Court on abortion in two decades—could deter other states from passing laws that shut down abortion clinics in states across the country. So even if you don’t live in Texas, this decision is a crucial one for women’s rights.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 27, 2016
The law that was tossed out is Texas’s HB2, which was originally passed in 2013 and required all abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, restricted access to medical abortions, banned terminations after 20 weeks, and required all clinics meet the same strict requirements as ambulatory surgical centers. And it’s been terrifyingly effective–since 2013 23 of Texas’s 41 abortion clinics have closed.
In today’s ruling, the Supreme Court found the bill to be unconstitutional because it places an undue burden on women (duh), with Justice Stephen Breyer adding that it didn’t actually help solve any health issues. “There was no significant health-related problem that the new law helped to cure,” he explained. “We agree with the District Court that the surgical-center requirement, like the admitting-privileges requirement, provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions, and constitutes an ‘undue burden’ on their constitutional right to do so.”
Women’s-rights advocates have been fast to throw their support behind the ruling, and Hillary Clinton praised the decision in a tweet this morning, “SCOTUS’s decision is a victory for women in Texas and across America. Safe abortion should be a right—not just on paper, but in reality. -H.”
This means that as of today several states—including Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Louisiana—will have to rethink their own abortion laws.
MORE: Where Election Frontrunners Stand on Your Reproductive Rights
