In a report from The New York Times, there has been a surge over the past three years in anti-abortion measures in almost 25 states in the country. The surge has changed access to abortions, with both sides of the debate saying that the measures are forcing clinics to close and making it harder for regions to receive the procedure.
Arguments will be made in a federal appeals court in New Orleans regarding a requirement in Texas that abortion doctors must have admitting privileges at hospitals in the area. This requirement caused the closure of one-third of Texas’ clinics for a short period of time. Many believe this case will reach the Supreme Court.
“I think we are at a potential turning point: Either access to abortion will be dramatically restricted in the coming year or perhaps the pushback will begin,” said Suzanne Goldberg, director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia University.
Groups against abortion feel that new regulations that cost clinics a lot of money help the effort to end abortions.
“I’m very encouraged,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “We’ve been gaining ground in recent years with laws that are a stronger challenge to Roe. I think it is more difficult to get an abortion in the country today.”
There were 22 states that adopted 70 different restrictions on abortions in 2013. The measures ranged from doctor and clinic regulations to late-abortion bans to limits on medication abortions and insurance coverage bans. This information was released by the Guttmacher Institute in its most recent report. The group does support abortion rights.
“If they take the Arizona case, it seems like at least four of the justices are willing to reconsider the viability line as the point at which states can ban abortions,” said Caitlin Borgmann. Borgmann is from the City University of New York School of Law and is a reproductive rights expert.
The case being argued on Monday in New Orleans will include arguments from the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.
