Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole
The Court Rules That Texas’s Restrictions on Abortion Clinics Are Unconstitutional
Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole was featured in Regulating Abortion Providers, Supreme Court Debates (Apr. 2016). The following is excerpted from the summary of the 5-to-3 majority opinion written by Justice Breyer, as prepared by the Court Reporter of Decisions: Both the admitting-privileges and the surgical-center requirements place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a pre-viability abortion, constitute an undue burden on abortion access, and thus violate the Constitution. The Fifth Circuit’s standard of review may be read to imply that a district court should not consider the existence or nonexistence of medical benefits when deciding the…
