Challenging Abortion Restrictions In The Courts: Where We Stand Now (great piece by Bazelon)

[cali]

Last edited Sun Jul 14, 2013, 11:49 AM - Edit history (1)

Emily Bazelon explains. This is an incredibly informative piece.



18- and 20-week bans

Eleven states now ban abortion at some point during the second trimester, before a fetus is viable. That number may soon be 12, if the Texas bill that Davis succeeded in temporarily stopping with her crowd-supported filibuster winds up passing. In several of these states, doctors probably don’t do abortions after 18 or 20 weeks anyway. But that’s not the case in Arizona, where in 2011, 376 abortions took place in or after the 18th week. (That is only 2.76 percent of the total number of abortions in the state—the vast majority of abortions nationwide take place in the first trimester.) A federal court of appeals struck down Arizona’s 18-week ban this spring, and the Georgia courts (where doctors also perform late second-trimester abortions) have also blocked that state’s 20-week ban.


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Medication abortions

Twelve states now have laws that go after abortions delivered by pills in the first trimester. Medication abortions are becoming increasingly popular. But if you oppose abortion from conception, then they are a threat. Abortion opponents are trying to make them more expensive and less available—once more, in the name of protecting women’s health—by barring abortion providers from prescribing the medication via teleconference. Clinics use teleconferencing to expand services in rural areas. States with telemedicine bans require the doctors to be in the same room when the pill is swallowed, even if a trained nurse or physician’s assistant is there. (This is also a fight over credentialing.) So far, Wisconsin’s law has been blocked in court; challenges are pending in other states. This is a legal fight that’s just beginning.

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The latest breed of TRAP law requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Sounds reasonable, right? The state is just making sure that a patient with complications can get the care she needs. Except that any patient who shows up at an emergency room gets care. Her doctor doesn’t need to be affiliated with the hospital. The underlying goal is to use the hospitals’ denial of admitting privileges to shut down the clinics. “For hospitals to decide whether to allow or deny abortion—that’s new,” says Elizabeth Nash, state law expert for the Guttmacher Institute. Seven states now have these laws, though so far they’ve only gone into effect in Tennessee, Utah, and partially in Kansas. (Two of the state’s four clinics challenged the law, and it’s been blocked for them.) In Wisconsin and North Dakota, suits have recently been filed. And in Alabama and Mississippi, judges have blocked these laws. Providers at Mississippi’s lone clinic actually tried to get the admitting privileges. It was after no hospital would grant them that the judge stepped in.

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So that’s where we are. The 2010 elections, which put more Republicans in control of statehouses across the country, invigorated abortion opponents and gave them the chance to try new bills. In 2011 and 2012, 135 abortion restrictions passed in the states—the biggest wave ever. And it’s still cresting, with 43 additional restrictions so far this year. The Gosnell trial, with its spectacle of a lawbreaking doctor killing living babies, has motivated anti-abortion legislators. And groups like Americans United for Life have spurred action by drafting model bills that states can use as a blueprint. Once one legislature has a law in its sights, the pressure is on for other conservative lawmakers to prove to their base that their commitment is just as strong.

How much is all this affecting women who seek abortions? And if you’re pro-choice, how worried should you be? If you live in a state with a TRAP law that has teeth, clinics may well be shutting down. If there’s a telemedicine ban in effect and you live out in the country, you probably have to drive to a city now to take the pills you need. The overarching point is this: In many red states, abortion is truly becoming less accessible. But as significant as these new laws are, no state has yet succeeded in winning the race to be the first without a clinic. The courts still stand between the legislature and the patient. And for the most part, they are on her side.

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/07/anti_abortion_legislation_in_the_states_will_bills_in_texas_north_carolina.html

[cali]

1. kick

[cali]

2. and another frickin' kick.