2016- Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt

Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2 in 2013, which detailed specific provisions regarding abortions. One of the provisions required any physician performing an abortion to have the right to admit a patient to a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion performed. Another provision required all clinics to be up to standards with ambulatory surgical centers (“Whole”).  Petitioners sued the State of Texas to challenge the provisions because they place a “substantial burden in the path of a woman seeking an abortion by forcing half of the state’s abortion clinics to close” (“Whole”). H.B. 2, according to these petitioners, “denied equal protection, unlawfully delegated lawmaking authority, and constituted arbitrary and unreasonable state action” (“Whole”). The ultimate ruling of the case was that admitting privileges provision of H.B. 2 did not advance the state’s protection of women’s health but placed a substantial burden in the path of women trying to access abortions by forcing many abortion clinics to close. (“Whole”).