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[shiba5]

Fantastic news!

 

[Paskil]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS, I was right about 5-3. So glad to see this shot down. Admitting privileges and surgery facility standards were always a shitty roundabout way of making abortion illegal.

 

[Hylian7]

Get fucked Texas government! Glad they made this ruling.

sonned

REKT
E
K
T

 

[jmdajr]

Good.

Fuck the crazy people in my state.

 

[Calion]

This is incredible news. Good job SCOTUS!

 

[ampere]

Thank you for being reasonable Justice Kennedy!!!!

😃😃😃😃

🇱🇷🇱🇷🇱🇷

 

[hammysaurusrex]

I love the Thomas dissent quoting Scalia and basically lamenting that this is just further evidence the entire rule of law is dead in the US, lol.

HE STILL HAUNTS US

 

[pinsomniac]

Just curious, because everyone is making it sound like there is a big reason why it's more harmful than beneficial: what is wrong with holding a clinic to "surgical" standards? Is that just ridiculous for what happens during the procedure or something?

 

[Future]

The fact this even needed to go to the Supreme Court is the saddest thing

 

[Zoe]

lots of reasons. first off, most abortions are currently performed by administering a set of (i think 2) pills. even laters ones that require dilating the cervix are non-surgical and are outpatient procedures. other similar procedures (with far higher complication rates) for non-controversial issues are performed in normal clinics all the time and medical professionals have universally said that these requirements are not scientifically necessary.

Those are still considered to be surgical, just FYI.

 

[Crisco]

This is great, eat shit Texas.

 

[Sub_Level]

Wendy Davis redeemed!

 

[Vicetrailia]

Eat shit Texas lawmakers.

 

[besada]

This is really excellent news. Thank you, Supreme Court.

 

[SliceSabre]

This was the fight the anti-abortion activists wanted. Glad it went the pro-choice way.


Now I wonder what new bs Republicans are going to try to invent to make abortions harder to get.

 

[aeolist]

Those are still considered to be surgical, just FYI.

ah you're right, i had my definitions mixed up. it doesn't require any cutting or sutures though correct?

 

[metalslimer]

FUCK YES!

 

[Vanillalite]

Just curious, because everyone is making it sound like there is a big reason why it's more harmful than beneficial: what is wrong with holding a clinic to "surgical" standards? Is that just ridiculous for what happens during the procedure or something?

NPR

The case involved a challenge to a Texas law regulating abortion. The law in question has two key provisions, as NPR's Nina Totenberg reported last fall:

"First, it requires that all doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where the abortion takes place. But because the complication rate from abortions is so minuscule, most abortion providers cannot meet the minimum number of admittances that hospitals require before granting privileges.

"Second, the law requires that abortion clinics be retrofitted to meet elaborate statutory hospital-grade standards, including wide corridors, large rooms and other expensive construction and equipment standards that do not apply to all other outpatient facilities where other surgical procedures like liposuction and colonoscopies take place.

"The provisions also apply to doctors who prescribe medication-induced abortions; such procedures involve giving the patient two pills and sending her home."

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Nice. Good job. That statement from Texas admitting there were never actually any major problems is sooooo damning.

 

[AstroNut325]

Any right wing meltdowns yet? I'm expecting the usual "Government overstepping their authority" rhetoric. But that argument is never seen from them when it comes to gun control rulings in favor of less restrictions.

 

[Fox318]

Thank god.

This was an attempt to over regulate abortion and womens health clinics out of business.

 

[Geg]

Does this automatically make similar laws in other states illegal as well? Or does this only cover Texas?

 

[JB1981]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DRauXXz6t0Y

Holy shit I always just thought that abortion was legal in this country and that was the end of it. I had no idea these kind of obstructions existed in some states.

 

[DragonSworne]

Thank god.

This was an attempt to over regulate abortion and womens health clinics out of business.

And conservatives say they are against regulation.

 

[Diablos]

Nice. Good job. That statement from Texas admitting there were never actually any major problems is sooooo damning.

I truly wonder why they said that. It's like maybe they secretly wanted the restrictions to get shot down because even they realized they went way too far.

 

[aeolist]

NPR

The case involved a challenge to a Texas law regulating abortion. The law in question has two key provisions, as NPR's Nina Totenberg reported last fall:

wrt to the hospital admission requirement 1) there are plenty of hospitals that don't accept doctors who perform abortions for ideological reasons (catholic hospitals among them) 2) there are lots of women in texas especially who live and need medical care far from hospitals and their doctors have no good reason to get admitting rights and 3) in the extremely rare case of abortion complications there is no hospital in america that would refuse to admit a woman just because her doctor did not have a relationship there

 

[Lambtron]

Now I wonder what new bs Republicans are going to try to invent to make abortions harder to get.

Well there's still fetal pain laws, 20 week bans, etc. Anti-choicers are still winning.

 

[RowdyReverb]

Good. This has been an ongoing issue because it basically removed all access to abortion from the valley (the Tex-Mex border) where there is a much greater proportion of impoverished families who can barely get by on their own and a new family member would only make life harder. Since there aren't many hospitals down there, it was unreasonable to require doctors in those clinics to have hospital privileges. Good on the SCOTUS.

 

[Kthulhu]

Will this lead to the reopening of clinics here in Texas?

 

[RowdyReverb]

The particularly bizarre thing about this proposition is it would actually disproportionately increase the number of new US citizens born from Mexican families, which seems at odds with the goal of tighter immigration control.

 

[GiantEnemyGoomba]

If you're still on the fence about the coming election, remember that 8 years from now a case like this could possibly be ruled 7-2 TO EITHER SIDE depending on who is elected this year.

Vacant seat + Ginsberg/Kennedy/Breyer getting old + Thomas maybe retiring means possibly FIVE seats are being filled.

 

[Fox318]

Just curious, because everyone is making it sound like there is a big reason why it's more harmful than beneficial: what is wrong with holding a clinic to "surgical" standards? Is that just ridiculous for what happens during the procedure or something?

The state governments were using expensive regulations meant for heart transplants and other invasive surgery centers to try and bankrupt these business. For example you wouldn't need 10 foot wide halls when going to the dentist because that would be dumb.

Those same standards

There are already regulations in place to make sure women's health centers and abortion clinics are safe its just a matter of the government actually going through and regulating them through those laws.

Then you have horrible shit like women being forced to hear their unborn child or look at an ultrasound before getting the abortion or doctors being told by the state that they have to spread lies like you can get cancer from an abortion.

Ironically the people who hate the government and see its regulations as overbearing to society knew exactly how to use it to fit their agenda.

 

[aeolist]

I truly wonder why they said that. It's like maybe they secretly wanted the restrictions to get shot down because even they realized they went way too far.

nah, even texan lawyers wouldn't lie directly to the supreme court. they spun it as well as they could but it was so obvious that even kennedy wasn't swayed.

the other good one was when texas said nobody in the rural western part of the state would lose access to abortions since they could go to new mexico, at which point ginsberg noted that new mexico doesn't have these regulations and asked why it was ok for texas women to use those clinics if this was really about women's health.

 

[ampere]

Does this automatically make similar laws in other states illegal as well? Or does this only cover Texas?

It should, but those other states might fight it a bit.

 

[Pizoxuat]

The particularly bizarre thing about this proposition is it would actually disproportionately increase the number of new US citizens born from Mexican families, which seems at odds with the goal of tighter immigration control.

Their goal there is to revoke birthright citizenship and deport everyone whose family cannot prove that their original immigrants were granted citizenship.

 

[ampere]

the other good one was when texas said nobody in the rural western part of the state would lose access to abortions since they could go to new mexico, at which point ginsberg noted that new mexico doesn't have these regulations and asked why it was ok for texas women to use those clinics if this was really about women's health.

I loved that RBG moment so much. She does not let bullshit slide.

 

[TS-08]

Does this automatically make similar laws in other states illegal as well? Or does this only cover Texas?

It only covers the Texas law, but what it does is set precedence, so other states will likely stop any efforts to pass or enforce the same laws. Although SCOTUS's rulings on constitutional issues like this only directly involve the parties/laws at issue before them, they end up affecting everyone because states and municipalities understand they will lose any legal challenge to similar laws they have.

 

[SirClinksAlot]

If you're still on the fence about the coming election, remember that 8 years from now a case like this could possibly be ruled 7-2 TO EITHER SIDE depending on who is elected this year.

Vacant seat + Ginsberg/Kennedy/Breyer getting old + Thomas maybe retiring means possibly FIVE seats are being filled.

Yup. This election is huge.

 

[gcubed]

even if you dislike Hillary, the chance for wholesale changes to abortion, LGBT, campaign finance, redistricting, etc that her presidency would usher in just because of a few supreme court seats is a-fucking-mazing

 

[Damaniel]

I don't know the details of what surgical standards they wanted, but I do know that they wanted to force things like the width of hallways and other hospital construction code, which would have basically required every clinic to undergo significant reconstruction or close their doors. (Hint: it was intended to do the latter)

And even if every one of the (few) clinics had actually rebuilt their facilities to meet those new standards, the state would have just come up with additional ones that made keeping clinics open even more difficult. It's never been about safety (since the people who support these laws are perfectly fine with an environment that would make unsafe back alley abortions the norm), just religion for the most part.

I expect that Texas will come up with another set of blatantly illegal restrictions on abortion which will eventually need to be struck down by the Supreme Court again, which is why we need Hillary (and NOT Trump) in the White House nominating new Justices.

 

[Protein]

Just curious, because everyone is making it sound like there is a big reason why it's more harmful than beneficial: what is wrong with holding a clinic to "surgical" standards? Is that just ridiculous for what happens during the procedure or something?

YouTube the Abortion episode on Last Week Tonight. It pretty much sums up the issue.

 

[Kthulhu]

the other good one was when texas said nobody in the rural western part of the state would lose access to abortions since they could go to new mexico, at which point ginsberg noted that new mexico doesn't have these regulations and asked why it was ok for texas women to use those clinics if this was really about women's health.

Lol. Ginsberg is savage.

 

[Fox318]

Thing is if you want to prevent abortions you probably would be better off making things sex education, birth control, and other prophylactics more widely available.

What this was attempting to do was get rid of every abortion clinic that wouldn't kill the woman going through it or making it so expensive that women are going to extremes to abort or giving birth to a child they may not have the funds or environment to take care of properly.

 

[Revolver]

Good. Hopefully similar laws here in Tennessee will get struck down too. There's a suit against the state currently on hold pending the SCOTUS decision on the Texas laws.

 

[DuffDry]

For those looking for a more in-depth look at what these types of regulations were doing to patients, doctors, and clinic owners, check out this documentary. Should be free if you're in the US.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/trapped-full-film/

 

[Zoe]

ah you're right, i had my definitions mixed up. it doesn't require any cutting or sutures though correct?

Yes--though that's not to say there's no blood or permanent marks made. It's still invasive.

 

[Shaanyboi]

Good.

 

[ShOcKwAvE]

Great news. Pretty sure the Repubs will decide to confirm Garland when they see the writing on the wall in October. Can't risk a more liberal nomination by Clinton.

 

[dskillzhtown]

Any right wing meltdowns yet? I'm expecting the usual "Government overstepping their authority" rhetoric. But that argument is never seen from them when it comes to gun control rulings in favor of less restrictions.

The governor and his cronies are saying this is going to hurt women's health in the state, etc. The reality is that women's health in rural areas especially has done nothing but go in a downward spiral for the past decade. In their crusade against abortion, they have forced many clinics to close who were the only facilities giving women healthcare in rural areas. You now have women having to drive 2 hours for a simple prenatal exam. The GOP just went completely overboard and thought everyone would jump on board. Hell, they want to stop sex ed, stop condom distribution and preach abstinence. We have seen other states who have done that have HIV explosions, but they don't give a shit.

The issue here is that the Democrats need to get some viable candidates. They have the talking points and facts for a compelling campaign against the GOP here. The Democratic party convention had more attendees than the GOP one, and much more diverse. It is crazy to see, but the state is turning more blue every year due to the GOP turning on the crazy to 11. Lastly, you know how Kansas is now having all kinds of economic issues due to cutting taxes? Our great governor wanted to do the exact same thing here. I am not sure exactly what planet these guys are from.

 

[The Technomancer]

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was disappointed.
"It’s exceedingly unfortunate that the court has taken the ability to protect women’s health out of the hands of Texas citizens and their duly-elected representatives," he said.

Fuck off