In today’s oral arguments, it is reported that Justice Kagan mockingly asked, “Why would Texas do this?”  There are approximately 210 Texas women annually who suffer from abortion complications requiring an emergency room visit, according to an admission by Planned Parenthood. The Texas law simply requires the same health and safety standards at abortion clinics that apply to other outpatient surgical clinics, and was passed in response to the horrific Gosnell trial and subsequent revelations of well-documented industry-wide negligence at abortion clinics.  It is a remarkable irony that so-called “advocates” of women’s health, along with Justice Kagan, are willing to compromise the health of 210 Texas women annually, subjecting them to unscrupulous doctors and inadequate substandard clinics.

Maureen Ferguson
Senior Policy Advisor with The Catholic Association

Reports of laughter after Justice Kagan cracked a joke from the bench illustrate just how seriously abortion advocates take women’s health and safety. The Texas law at issue in this case was written after the grand jury that indicted Kermit Gosnell of killing infants and women in his back-alley style clinic pleaded with states to make sure that this could never happen again by raising the medical standards for abortion clinics to meet those of all other outpatient surgical centers. Why should abortion clinics be held to lower safety standards than facilities that perform far less risky and invasive procedures? But more importantly, why is women’s health and safety a laughing matter in the chamber of our highest court?

Ashley McGuire
Senior Fellow with The Catholic Association