A federal appeals court just gave both middle fingers to Roe v. Wade
A panel of three Republican judges openly defied the Supreme Court on Monday, permitting a law that is nearly identical to the abortion restriction the justices struck down in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt to take effect.
Just like Hellerstedt, Comprehensive Health v. Hawley concerns two restrictions on abortion. The first requires abortion clinics to comply with expensive architectural requirements, the second requires that “all doctors who perform abortions at ASCs must be ‘privileged to perform surgical procedures in at least one licensed hospital in the community.’” Again, the Supreme Court struck down a nearly identical Texas law in Hellerstedt.
In fairness, the two laws are not entirely identical. Most notably, Missouri’s law permits individual abortion clinics to see waivers from the “physical plant regulations,” and at least one such waiver has been granted for a clinic that made a “minor request.”
Judge Bobby Shepherd, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote for himself and his fellow Republican judges that the challenge to these “physical plant” requirements may need to be delayed until after a clinic first tries to obtain a waiver. There are strong legal arguments against Shepherd’s position here, but Shepherd and his two colleagues at least claim that this waiver system meaningfully distinguishes Hawley from Hellerstedt.
The same cannot be said, however, about Missouri’s law requiring abortion providers to be able to perform surgical procedures at a nearby hospital. Indeed, if anything, this provision of Missouri’s law is significantly more restrictive than Texas’. The law struck down in Hellerstedt merely required abortion doctors to “have active admitting privileges at a hospital” within 30 miles of the clinic. The Missouri law requires abortion providers to be able to perform surgeries in a nearby hospital, and it requires that hospital to be no more than “15 minutes away.”
https://thinkprogress.org/a-federal-appeals-court-just-openly-defied-the-supreme-court-to-uphold-an-anti-abortion-law-a53460afc5ef/?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5b988bc604d30138d80c42ea&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
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