Senate

Dems weigh in on looming abortion battle

by Jordain Carney - 01/05/16 11:10 AM ET

Congressional Democrats are pressing the Supreme Court to uphold access to abortion clinics, stepping into a looming legal battle on reproductive rights.

One hundred and sixty-three members of Congress, including independent Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Angus King (Maine), filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that a Texas law at the center of the Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole case is unconstitutional because it negatively impacts the ability to get reproductive healthcare by forcing all but 10 abortion clinics in the state to close.

{mosads}”A woman’s right to decide whether to carry a pregnancy to term or to seek critical medical services, including abortion, should be insulated from the shifting political rhetoric and interest groups whose sole purpose is to erode the right to choose to bring a pregnancy to term afforded to women under [Roe v. Wade],” the lawmakers wrote in the brief.

The case marks the first time the Supreme Court has taken up an abortion rights challenge in eight years, setting up a closely watched and heated legal battle months before the 2016 election.

The court is expected to hear arguments in the case on March 2. At issue is whether the Texas law creates an “undue burden” on women’s legal right to terminate a pregnancy.

More than half of Texas’s clinics have closed because they couldn’t meet the law’s regulations, which are considered to be the strictest in the country.

The brief was spearheaded by Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Richard Blumanthal (Conn.), as well Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette (Colo.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Judy Chu (Calif.) and Marc Veasey (Texas).

Separately, the National Abortion Federation (NAF), a pro-abortion-rights group, filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking the Supreme Court to strike down the Texas law.

Vicki Saporta, NAF president and CEO, said that the law’s “medically unnecessary requirements are substantial obstacles that cannot be easily overcome, particularly for women who are low-income or live outside the four major metropolitan areas in Texas.”

Tags Angus King Bernie Sanders Patty Murray