207 members of Congress filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a #SCOTUS case involving a challenge to a TRAP law [Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider] that would force all but one clinic in Louisiana to close. bit.ly/2SL6ohG
The brief says that prior SCOTUS precedent including Roe v. Wade should be reconsidered and “if appropriate” should be overruled.
The brief should be no surprise – since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, the other side has done everything to chip away at the right to abortion/abortion access or take direct aim at the right.
What’s notable: they don't "just" ask SCOTUS to uphold the LA restriction, or overturn a SCOTUS case that struck a similar TX law. Instead, they ask the Court to reconsider Roe, which protects the right to abortion, and prohibits states from banning abortion prior to viability.
Roe v. Wade held that the right to abortion is a fundamental constitutional right. In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, SCOTUS changed the way that courts should evaluate the constitutionality of abortion restrictions but affirmed the underlying right.
In 2016, in Whole Woman’s Health, SCOTUS struck a TX law requiring abortion providers to have hospital privileges, finding the law had no health benefits but would decimate access.
Now, #SCOTUS has taken a case from Louisiana – June v. Gee -about hospital privileges. And these members of congress are now saying explicitly what they’ve always wanted: for Roe v. Wade to be reconsidered and for people to lose the ability to access abortion.
