Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt
Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole is the biggest abortion case since Roe v. Wade, and certiorari was granted by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 13, 2015. Briefs will be due in December and January, oral argument will be in March or April, and a decision will likely be rendered on the last day of the Term, in late June.
Roe v. Wade established a constitutional right to a safe abortion. Whole Woman's Health v. Cole will establish whether there is a broader right to abortion that includes a constitutional right to unsafe abortions.
Brief by liberal medical groups
Siding with abortion are the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (“ACOG”), the American Medical Association (“AMA”), the American Academy of Family Physicians (“AAFP”), and the American Osteopathic Association (“AOA”), which filed an amicus brief on the petition for certiorari.[1] They asserted that:
| “ | Reproductive healthcare is essential to a woman’s overall health, and access to abortion is an important component of reproductive healthcare. When state legislatures enact laws that restrict access to abortion without any valid medical justification, they jeopardize women’s health. | ” |
Follow that? Limiting access to abortion somehow jeopardizes women's health, as though abortion is somehow healthy in itself. If that were true, then the life expectancy of women would correlate around the world with access to abortion. It does not.
