Supreme Court Dumps Texas' Tough Abortion Laws

In what the AP is calling the Supreme Court's "biggest abortion case in nearly a quarter century," a 5-3 vote Monday has deemed Texas' restrictions on abortion clinics unconstitutional, refuting the state's assertion that these regulations were medically necessary to protect women's health. These rules—which mandated that doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at hospitals close by, as well as required abortion clinics to meet rigorous, hospital-like standards—placed an "'undue burden' on a woman's right to decide to have an abortion," reads the court ruling in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, written by Justice Stephen Breyer. The clinics had argued that these regulations were nothing more than an attempt to close most clinics and limit women's abortion access. Justices John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas dissented. (Thousands of Texas women say they've tried to induce their own abortions.)