Choice in Grave Danger as Supreme Court Hears First Abortion Case with Kavanaugh

This term, with Kavanaugh’s vote, the Supreme Court is going to overrule Whole Woman’s Health, gut Roe v. Wade, and allow states to regulate abortion clinics out of existence.

The Supreme Court announced on Friday [10/4/19] that it will hear June Medical Services v. Gee, a case that could well be the vehicle the Court’s conservatives use to gut the right to an abortion.

At the heart of the case is a 2014 Louisiana law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Abortion rights advocates say such laws serve no medical purpose and are merely an effort to shut down clinics — and in the landmark 2016 case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Texas.

But the Supreme Court today is different from what it was in 2016.

That last line is the key.  Republicans have stolen a seat from Merrick Garland and additionally confirmed a rapist in Kavanaugh.  Now they control the court.

Kavanaugh... is overwhelmingly likely to vote with his conservative colleagues to uphold the abortion restriction at issue in Gee. The Gee decision may not be the final straw for Roe v. Wade — indeed, it is fairly likely that the Court will prefer to dismantle the right to an abortion in incremental steps. But it is likely to, at the very least, be the beginning of the end.

The mere fact that Gee is before the Supreme Court is a sign of just how precariously Roe dangles over an abyss. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court struck down a law that is virtually identical to the one at issue in Gee. 

 Briefly, here's the pile of crap Republicans are trying to use to end womens' right to choose.

Abortion opponents say admitting privileges laws are needed to make it easier for abortion providers to admit their patients into a hospital if complications arise. However, an abortion provider doesn’t have to have admitting privileges at a hospital in order for that provider’s patients to be treated there.  “A woman who experiences complications from an abortion (either while still at the clinic where the abortion was performed or at home afterward) will go to the nearest hospital, which will treat her regardless of whether her abortion doctor has admitting privileges.”

Not to mention, abortion complications are extraordinarily rare..... admitting privileges can be very difficult for abortion providers to get.  Hospitals often only grant admitting privileges to physicians who admit a certain number of patients every year — meaning that many abortion providers will be unable to obtain these privileges precisely because the rate of complications for abortion is so low.

... abortion-rights advocates often describe admitting-privileges laws as “targeted restrictions on abortion providers,” or “TRAP” laws — laws that superficially appear designed to make abortion safer but whose real purpose is to make it harder for abortion clinics to operate.

Absolute bullshit.  This is terrible.

Source: https://www.vox.com/2019/10/4/20874618/supreme-court-louisiana-abortion-law-scotus-gee