The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law regulating abortion clinics, delivering a blow to pro-life advocates.
The Supreme Court struck down the law placing restrictions on the state’s abortion clinics in a 5-3 decision, NBC News reported. The decision represented the Supreme Court’s first major decision on abortion in nearly a decade.
Five justices ruled in favor of abortion clinics challenging a 2013 state law that mandated clinics providing abortion services to meet the building standards of ambulatory surgical centers and required doctors performing abortions to obtain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
Abortion rights advocates argued that the law made it close to impossible to operate abortion clinics in the state, while supporters of the regulations said that the law improved care and safety at abortion clinics.
"We agree with the District Court that the surgical center requirement, like the admitting-privileges requirement, provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions, and constitutes an ‘undue burden’ on their constitutional right to do so," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the majority opinion.
Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissented.
"The dispositive issue here concerns a workaday question that can arise in any case no matter the subject, namely, whether the present case is barred by res judicata. As a court of law, we have an obligation to apply such rules in a neutral fashion in all cases, regard less of the subject of the suit," Alito said in the dissent, which he read from the bench.
"If anything, when a case involves a controversial issue, we should be especially careful to be scrupulously neutral in applying such rules. The Court has not done so here," he continued.
"On the contrary, determined to strike down two provisions of a new Texas abortion statute in all of their applications, the Court simply disregards basic rules that apply in all other cases," Alito wrote.
SCOTUS aff action opinion is 20 pages. Alito dissent is 51. Alito is orally dissenting from the bench.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 23, 2016
The decision will affect similar laws in a dozen other states.
This post will be updated as further information becomes available.