Kennedy holds the key in Texas abortion case

[Draggingtree]

Howe on the Court: Kennedy holds the key in Texas abortion case

Waiting for yesterday’s oral argument in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstadt, the challenge to Texas’s efforts to regulate abortions, to begin, reporters joked that their coverage of the argument could basically be written in advance, following the now-familiar plotline of many high-profile arguments in recent years. On one side: the Court’s four more liberal Justices, ready to strike down the regulations. Allied against them on the other side, with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month: the Court’s three more conservative Justices, supporting the regulations. And in the middle, with the potentially deciding vote, would be Justice Anthony Kennedy. It’s almost a cliché, but that’s also pretty much exactly how it played out. And Kennedy, the key vote, raised the prospect of sending the case back to the lower court to add more facts to the record – an outcome that would also conveniently increase the likelihood that the case would not return to the Court (if at all) until after Scalia’s successor has been confirmed. Let’s talk about yesterday’s argument in Plain English.

 

At issue in yesterday’s oral arguments were two provisions in a Texas law known as HB2. One provision, known as the “admitting privileges” requirement,

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State Officials Note Significant Drop in Texas Abortions

by Alexa Ura March 17, 2016 34Comments

 

The number of abortions performed in Texas dropped significantly in 2014, with almost 9,000 fewer procedures in the state compared to the year before.

 

Early estimates by state health officials show 54,191 abortions were performed in Texas in 2014 — down from 63,168 in 2013. The state estimates do not include abortions Texas women obtained at facilities outside the state. In 2013, 681 Texas women obtained abortions out-of-state.

 

The new Texas estimates come as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of Texas abortion restrictions that have been credited with the decrease in the number of procedures.

http://www.texastribune.org/2016/03/17/number-abortions-performed-texas-continues-drop/