Today the Supreme Court handed down a victory for Women’s Rights.

In Whole Women’s Health vs Hellerstedt, the most significant abortion rights case since Planned Parenthood vs Casey, the Court decided in favor Whole Women’s Hear, striking down two provisions of H.R. 2. The first required all on abortion clinics in the state meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical units. The second provision required all doctors who work at abortion clinics to have local hospital admitting privileges.

The Supreme Court found both of these provisions medically unnecessary and dealt a huge roadbolock to anti- choice factions who have used been using this tactic in multiple states to get around Roe, and shut down clinics.

But the Court saw through their deception. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that ” it is beyond rational belief” that these laws improve the safety of abortion procedures or improve women’s health. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated when ” a state severely limits access to safe and legal procedures, women in desperate circumstances may resort to unlicensed rouge practitioners, faux demieux, at great risk to their health and safety”. These two statements cut to the heart of the matter; what we as activists have been saying for a long time.

The National Organization for Women, our state and local chapters and our allies including Pennsylvanians for Reproductive Health fight hard to educate the public on the reality of abortion care, to win legislative decisions, and to support the choices of people who have abortions.
We should celebrate this great victor but the fight goes on. Next we must turn our attention to fighting 20 week bans and religious exemptions for birth control coverage in health care.