The Supreme Court Has Failed in Its Role as the National Abortion Control Board

When the Supreme Court makes an important decision that influences the entire nation, it’s flashed across the media for a day and then forgotten. Rarely is the practical impact of the decision reviewed afterward. But a new reportprovides insight on how recent Supreme Court decisions regarding abortion clinics have resulted in a public health mess.

The Supreme Court’s Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt decision of 2016 and June Medical Services LLC v. Russo decision of 2020 nullified important health and safety regulations for abortion clinics in Texas and Louisiana. They also cast doubt on the same laws in every other state, prompting some to wonder if those laws were ever necessary.

The Guttmacher Institute estimates that in 2017, “over 862,000 abortions were performed in the U.S., with only 5% in physicians’ offices and hospitals.” That means that abortion clinics are where the vast majority of abortions are performed.

Americans might ask, “What’s this have to do with the Supreme Court? The court isn’t responsible for what goes on in clinics.” While the Supreme Court isn’t supposed to be, it assumed unprecedented control over abortion clinics in 1973 in Roe v. Wade.