Supreme Court won't take up challenge to restrictive Arkansas abortion law

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Washington Post

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up an Arkansas law that challengers say could end the use of medication abortions in the state.

The law requires doctors who provide medication abortions to have a contract with a specialist who has hospital admitting privileges. Abortion providers say the requirement is burdensome and unnecessary because complications are extremely rare from the two-pill regimen that is used in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, and any that do arise can be handled by a local emergency room or hospital.

The state has only three abortion clinics, and two of those offer only medication abortions. So the law could leave only one clinic, in Little Rock, to serve the entire state--and it would have to offer only surgical abortions.

Challengers can still ask a judge to strike down the law, but may have to prove how many women could be affected by it.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-wont-take-up-challenge-to-restrictive-arkansas-abortion-law/2018/05/29/43c387ac-6345-11e8-99d2-0d678ec08c2f_story.html?utm_term=.86dae168d2bd&wpisrc=al_news__alert-hse--alert-national&wpmk=1

[Fullduplexxx]

1. There are enough dems on the court to get this to the court

[bench scientist]

4. Yes, only requires 4 Justices to agree to grant writ of certiorari.

Likely no Circuit split they want to resolve.

[Raven123]

2. It is not clear from the article

What objection was raised. I think the most successful appeal would be based on a claim that medical abortion providers are treated differently from others.

For example where I live pharmacists can administer vaccines. Must they have relationships with providers of emergency care?

May not be a perfect analogy but I hopr I made my point.

[onenote]

6. The argument was that the law placed an undue burden on women seeking abortions in Arkansas

[Raven123]

12. Thank you. I didn't see that

[leftynyc]

3. I sure do hope the

fucking purity police are happy now. How many people here said no matter how you feel about Hillary, THIS was the reason to vote for her? This and the entire federal bench which donnie is filling up with right wing imbeciles.

[karynnj]

7. Unfortunately - that same argument motivated the anti-abortion forces

Before the election, I was listening to an NPR report speaking to conservative/Republican women asking them if Trump's behavior should not preclude their voting for Trump. Their answers - boiled down -- were they were voting to make abortion illegal because the SC was how that would happen. Recently, Jon Meachem was on one of the MSNBC shows and he stated the same observation about evangelicals is that they are willing to be closely aligned to a man, who violates every moral belief they have for four years to get 40 years of a more conservative justice system.

I have argued that in 2004 and 2016, many forces were out because the winner would nominate a replacement for at least one CONSERVATIVE SCJ. (In 2008 and 2016, it was likely that the justices that would step down were the liberals - Scalia was unexpected.) For that reason, the evangelicals were pushed to vote for Trump in 2016 and Bush in 2004. Conservative Catholic bishops were very active as well - I think it was covered more prominently in 2004 because Kerry was (and is) a practicing Catholic, but I would suspect the abortion issue was raised in those parishes in 2016 too.

I suspect that on our side, it has been so long since the 1970s that most people really did not believe - even as red states made it very difficult to get an abortion - that Roe vs Wade could really be overturned or that things could really go back to abortion being illegal. This ruling is particularly scary in that regard as one reason I heard that it could not happen is that it would be difficult to make a medical abortion impossible. Here, a la the lack of safety of the 1970s, one fear is that women will get the pill needed, but will not take it under the guidance of a doctor. It may still be far safer than what many faced in the 1970s, but it won't be as safe as it being done legally with a doctor involved.

[leftynyc]

8. And the evangelicals

held their noses and voted accordingly because they were smart enough to see the end game. Many on our side voted third party or stayed home in a pique of purity. And now we have this. And it's not just the supreme court. It's the entire federal bench. For the supposedly smarter party, the stupidity regarding the bench is staggering.

[karynnj]

9. Yep ...

A friend spoke of organizing Democrats as "herding cats".

It might be the authoritarian leaning of the Republicans that makes them follow leaders - even when they have objections. We, have some of that too - when we don't object to things done by a trusted Democratic leader that we would scream about if it were done by a Republican. Yet there are some who, to use your very apt word are purists.

Purists ignore that it is rare (or for some never going to happen) when they agree with any nominee 100%. There are lucky times when you actually get more and more impressed as you learn more about our nominee. I would suggest that that might be the exception to the norm - as the carefully crafted picture usually glosses over a flaw or two. However, in both cases, there will be at least some things where you disagree.

However in today's world, the parties are so polarized that you might not find a Democrat who you disagree with more than say 20% of the time or a Republican who you agree with more than 20% of the time when the issues spoken of are at all controversial.

[leftynyc]

11. I have never voted

for MY perfect candidate. But I've never missed an election. My parents made it exciting - every year closer to 18 I was told "soon your voice will COUNT".

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. UPDATE: Planned Parenthood telling patients it can no longer offer medication abortions in the state

UPDATE: Planned Parenthood telling patients it can no longer offer medication abortions in the state.

Link to tweet

[sakabatou]

10. Grr