If SCOTUS fails to uphold its own precedent and strike down this clearly unconstitutional restriction, the devastating effects it will have on abortion access can’t be overstated.
Donald Trump promised us he would nominate Supreme Court justices who would challenge Roe v. Wade and punish people who choose to have an abortion — and he delivered. Since Kavanaugh’s confirmation established an anti-choice majority on SCOTUS, anti-choice state legislators across the country have passed extreme bans on abortion across the country. From Ohio to Kentucky to Alabama, misogynists have come out of the woodwork in a race to see who can pass the most extreme anti-choice laws and reach SCOTUS first to challenge Roe v. Wade.
For now, those bans are hung up in lower courts and not currently in effect, but Kavanaugh and Gorsuch don’t have to accept an out-right challenge to Roe to gut its protections. Last month, SCOTUS voted to take up June Medical Services v. Gee — and it’s a golden opportunity for Trump’s anti-choice justices to cut off abortion access for millions.
The Court’s decision to hear June Medical Services v. Gee is so concerning because the Louisiana law at its center is IDENTICAL to one from Texas that SCOTUS struck down in 2016 in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. This should have been an easy one for federal judges: Supreme Court precedent on this was established just three years ago. But it’s clear that far-right judges, just like the ones that that Trump has packed our courts with, have an ulterior motive in ensuring that abortion rights cases reach our highest court — they want to undo precedent and undermine Roe.
Just like the failed Texas law struck down in 2016, Louisiana’s restriction in question is a TRAP law that weaponizes medically-unnecessary licensing requirements to achieve one goal: Shut down clinics that provide abortion care. Abortion-providing clinics, like all medical facilities, are already subject to extensive health and safety regulations, and it’s clear that nothing about these TRAP laws is actually intended to protect women’s health or improve patient outcomes for a procedure that is already extremely safe. The Supreme Court itself found in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt that the restriction in Texas provided no health benefit to Texans and instead was an undue burden on the constitutional right to abortion.
If SCOTUS fails to uphold its own precedent and strike down this clearly unconstitutional restriction, the devastating effects it will have on abortion access can’t be overstated. Before being blocked by SCOTUS, Texas’ TRAP law closed more than half of the state’s clinics, and the damage done by June Medical Services v. Gee could be even worse. Louisiana is already down to only three abortion-providing clinics, and the district court that previously ruled on June Medical Services v. Gee found that Louisiana’s entire population would be left with one abortion provider, at most, if this law were allowed to go into effect. There’s no doubt that thousands of patients, if they could even afford the extended travel to the single remaining clinic, would have to be turned away. And it would be the people who already face extensive barriers to accessing abortion care — low-income folks, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people living in rural areas — who would be hurt most.
If Louisiana receives SCOTUS’s green light to shut down clinics, it’s highly likely that other anti-choice state legislatures will spring into action to see how fast they can follow suit. A wave of copycat TRAP laws is likely to roll across red states all across the U.S., shutting down clinic after clinic in their wake.
It can feel like there’s not much that can be done now that the anti-choice majority Supreme Court controls the fate of June Medical Services v. Gee — but this fight is far from over. Even if SCOTUS’s right-wing justices deal a major blow to reproductive freedom by overturning precedent and upholding Louisiana’s TRAP law, we can fight back. We urgently need Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). If enacted, WHPA would provide federal protection for abortion rights and access, no matter what state you live in. It would protect all of us from outright bans on abortion and sneaky TRAP laws alike. At a moment when our reproductive freedom is hanging by a thread, we need bold action from our leaders.
And for those members of Congress who refuse to uphold their duty to fight for the fundamental freedoms of their constituents, we will replace them. The 2019 elections once again demonstrated that reproductive freedom and abortion rights are a winning issue across the country. The pro-choice majority in this country can hold the House, take the White House, and flip the Senate in 2020 — and we must. Our rights and our lives are on the line, and the time to fight is now.
