FFRF cheers abortion access victories
(Freedom From Religion Foundation)
Abortion won big in the November elections, proving that abortion rights retain popular support.
Abortion access received solid support in ballot measures in California, Montana, Michigan, Kentucky and Vermont.
• Michigan: Voters enshrined abortion in the state’s Constitution by passing Proposal 3.
• California: Voters in the Golden State also enshrined abortion in the state’s Constitution with Proposition 1.
• Vermont: Vermonters overwhelmingly supported Article 22, the Reproductive Liberty Amendment, which provides a constitutional protection to abortion.
• Kentucky: In a close race, voters in Kentucky rejected a ballot measure that would have denied any constitutional protections for abortion or abortion funding.
• Montana: Montanans voted down a deceptive abortion ban law that would have criminalized health care providers and limited their care options.
These election results demonstrate what public polls have shown: Abortion access receives overwhelming support across political lines. Freethinkers lead the way with 87 percent supporting abortion in all or most cases, according to Pew Research. A YouGov analysis last spring found that atheists are the most likely to identify as pro-choice, at 91 percent.
While these measures are worth celebrating, there’s much work to be done to protect abortion throughout the country. Most abortions are now banned in at least 13 states, with court battles taking place in these and many other states.
In addition to the above good news, the South Carolina Supreme Court just struck down the absurdly restrictive 6-week abortion ban. This is HUGE:
South Carolina Constitution Includes Abortion Right, State Supreme Court Rules
The decision overturns the state’s six-week ban on abortion, a major victory for abortion rights in the South, where the procedure is strictly limited.
by Kate Zernike - January 5, 2023 (New York Times)
The South Carolina Constitution provides a right to privacy that includes the right to abortion, the state’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, saying “the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable.”
The decision overturns the state’s law banning abortions after roughly the sixth week of pregnancy. More broadly, it is a victory for abortion rights in the South, where states have severely restricted access.
It is the first final ruling by a state Supreme Court on the state constitutionality of abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, which ended the right to abortion under the federal constitution that had been in force for half a century, and left the matter to the states.
Abortion rights groups responded to that decision by filing suits in 19 states, seeking to establish a right to abortion under state constitutions, in many cases citing explicit provisions in those documents protecting a woman’s privacy and equal rights. The South Carolina case was a critical first test — and success — for that strategy.
“This is a monumental victory in the movement to protect legal abortion in the South,” said Jenny Black, the president of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which was among the groups that filed the case.
The five justices ruled 3-2 that a state ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy violated a provision in the state constitution which says that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures and unreasonable invasions of privacy shall not be violated.”
Even so, the court’s majority said that the right to abortion “was not absolute, and must be balanced against the State’s interest in protecting unborn life.”
The Republican-controlled state legislature may try to test what that means by passing other restrictions on abortion later in pregnancy, but it will be limited by the court’s new broad protection for abortion.
The state’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, said in a statement that he was working with the governor’s office to review “all our available options moving forward.”
“We respectfully, but strongly, disagree with the Court’s ruling,” he said.
The ruling in South Carolina will not necessarily translate to other states, given the differences in the makeup of their courts and the language of their constitutions.
Still, it was a significant decision in the post-Roe world, and one that will help shape the arguments as cases proceed in other states.
Abortion rights advocates argue that once some states begin recognizing a constitutional right to abortion — either because of court decisions like this one or because of the outcomes of ballot initiatives like those in Kansas and Michigan last year — others will follow.
The South Carolina case concerned a law passed by the state legislature in 2021, which banned abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, or that threaten the mother’s life. Federal courts had blocked the law because of the Roe protections. It took effect shortly after Roe was overturned, but several weeks later the state’s Supreme Court unanimously blocked it again, while the litigation proceeded.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the South Carolina legislature has attempted, but has so far failed, to pass a stricter ban.
The decision by the state’s highest court almost certainly blocks that effort, and leaves only limited options. State appeals are exhausted. Officials could try to amend the state constitution to explicitly rule out any provision for abortion rights, though attempts to do that have failed in states like Kansas.
“We know that lawmakers will double down on their relentless efforts to restrict essential health care, but we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to restore abortion access across the country once and for all,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, another of the groups that filed suit.
Justice Kaye Hearn, who wrote the opinion issued Thursday, is the only woman, and the second woman to serve on the court. Chief Justice Donald Beatty, the second Black justice elected since Reconstruction, joined her in the opinion along with Justice John C. Few.
Justice Hearn seemed to indicate some sympathy toward the abortion providers during oral arguments. She noted that the plaintiff’s side of the courtroom was all female and the state’s side was all male. Most women who are pregnant at six weeks do not want anyone to know, she said, and many women do not want anyone to know if they have had an abortion.
“I know you’re not a woman,” she told a lawyer for the state government. “But what could be more personal than that decision?”
More to the story here.
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