July 6, 2015
Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion-on-demand across the country, stemmed out of Texas. Now, the nation’s highest court is expected to take on a pro-life law in the Lone Star State, in what is being called the “biggest abortion case at the Supreme Court in nearly 25 years.”
At the heart of the case is Texas’ H.B. 2, signed into law by former Governor Rick Perry. The measure, which was expected to go into full effect on July 1, would have shuttered half of abortion clinics in the state. In a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the law, with Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas, and Justice Alito dissenting.
While Texas has fought to show abortion is not in the best interest of citizens — working at the state-level to enact pro-life legislation and defunding abortion giant Planned Parenthood —the U.S. Supreme Court is preventing Texas from forsaking the era of Roe to build a culture of life. The Court may ultimately decide to further define the main phrase used in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, which affirmed that states can regulate abortion, unless it places an “undue burden” on women.
H.B. 2 includes three provisions: ban abortions after 20 weeks, require abortion facilities to maintain medical safety standards, and mandate abortionists to have hospital admitting privileges. This trifecta would effectively reduce the number of abortion centers in Texas to seven or eight.
Recently, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld H.B. 2, which drew fire from ThinkProgress.org. The publication decried the decision, noting that Roe v. Wade is almost half dead.
While polls show that public opinion on abortion is shifting, the number of abortions across the country has also dipped. The conscience of America is being awakened to the reality of abortion, but Texas has been gridlocked from enacting commonsense health and safety regulations on abortion mills.
Abortion is horrific for the mother, the preborn child, and for the families deeply wounded. Yet the abortion industry remains one of the least regulated.
The atrocities unearthed in abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” shocked the nation. Gosnell was found to have killed babies able to survive outside the womb, snipping the necks of some with scissors and callously joking about their deaths. Americans cannot, however, forget that every abortion mill is equally inhuman, unregulated, and horrific. The abortion clinics that would have closed under H.B. 2 would ultimately shutter because they are dangerous.
In opposing the law, Big Abortion yet again proves it is concerned more about its bottom line. Its response reveals how abortion facilities refuse to comply with medical safety standards to better safeguard women.
Although the abortion lobby claims to represent women, it is diametrically opposed to their safety and protection; it ultimately chooses profit off of their pain.
It is time to forsake Roe, which has deeply hurt our country, killing 57 million of our preborn brothers and sisters. It is time to move forward — like Texas — to restore a culture of life, demanding better for our society and our citizens.
