Ignoring the Constitution’s silence on abortion, the Supreme Court invented a “constitutional right” to abortion and stripped the people of their right to regulate or even prohibit the procedure through laws written by their elected representatives. For example, the Court’s rulings have, without justification, set a double standard — one that allows elected representatives to set the rules for medical facilities in every other area of medicine, as has been the case in our country for generations, and one that makes the Court a de facto medical board determining the appropriateness of laws that apply to abortion.
The Court’s decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt sets a dangerous precedent. The challenged law, H.B. 2, was passed by the elected representatives of the people of Texas who were concerned about the callous treatment of both the unborn and their mothers. Horrified by the revelations of the abhorrent practices at Kermit Gosnell’s unregulated abortion clinic, the Texas legislature passed H.B. 2 to ensure that nothing of the kind would occur in the Lone Star State. The law required abortion clinics follow the same standards of safety and cleanliness as other ambulatory surgical facilities. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court would not allow even this modest modicum of decency to stand, preferring instead to ignore the will of the people of Texas. Now any state across the country that has or wishes to enact the same protective law has been prevented from doing so by the Supreme Court.
