Boston University School of Law: Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana's Restrictive Abortion Law
When
Another question concerned the fate of abortion rights. Kennedy coauthored the joint opinion in
The answer came on
In June Medical, Breyer begins by repeating Hellerstedt's holding: "'[u]nnecessary health regulations that have the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion impose an undue burden on the right' and are therefore 'constitutionally invalid.'" According to Hellerstedt, to assess whether a law regulating abortion poses an "undue burden," a court must independently review the legislative findings upon which the law rest and weigh the law's "asserted benefits against the burdens" it imposes on abortion access. Breyer concluded that the district court in June Medical correctly applied that test after a six-day trial about
Breyer recites some of the district court's findings about the absence of benefit: "abortion in
Breyer concluded that the evidence supporting the district court's conclusions was "even stronger and more detailed" than in Hellerstedt. Therefore, the
Instead of applying that deferential standard, the
Justice Thomas was the only dissenter who expressly called for overruling Roe. He used terms like a woman's "purported" or "putative" right to convey his view that there is no constitutional basis for any "right" to terminate a pregnancy or to challenge a state's ability to "regulate or even prohibit abortion."
Reversing Roe was not, however, before the Court. With
Regardless of Roberts' motivation, this case shows that the undue burden test can have real force against TRAP laws. While five justices concluded that
"LAW Reviews" is an opinion series that provides commentaries from BU Law faculty on a variety of legal issues. The views expressed are solely those of the author and are not intended to represent the views of
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