In this Guide to the Issues, API breaks down the opinion and possible implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.
Texas enacted a law that heightened the health and safety requirements for abortion providers, in order to safeguard the state from atrocities like those that occurred in Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s abortion clinic—a “house of horrors” where poor women were preyed upon and newborn babies were barbarically murdered.
The Supreme Court struck down the Texas law, finding that it presented a “substantial obstacle” to women getting abortions and, therefore, was unconstitutional.