Abortion Rights are Back at the Supreme Court. Here’s What That Means.

Four years and two days ago, I was jumping and waving a purple pom pom on the steps of the Supreme Court. Inside, eight justices were hearing oral arguments in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the biggest abortion rights case in a decade. Justice Antonin Scalia had died weeks earlier. The stakes couldn’t have been higher. 

The case rested on a 2013 Texas law that required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, a medically unnecessary and decidedly onerous requirement that, in practice, made it nearly impossible for abortion clinics to remain open. It was a “trap,” precisely why these laws are called “TRAP” laws, short for Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, and it would have forced dozens of clinics to close. 

The Court, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, saw right through the ruse and struck down the law for placing an “undue burden” on people seeking abortion care. We had won. TRAP laws were unconstitutional. Abortion rights were protected and access would continue.

This was of course before Trump won the presidency, before the Supreme Court swung hard to the right. But at least this issue was settled. Or so we thought.

Today the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in June Medical Services v. Gee. The case rests on a 2014 Louisiana law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Sound familiar? That’s because it is essentially an identical law to the one the Court struck down in 2016. 

What a difference four years makes. 

What It Means

At its core this case isn’t so much about the law as it is about whether the clinic that challenged it has the legal standing to do so. June Medical Services (the corporate name for Hope Clinic in Louisiana) sued, declaring that the law was unconstitutional and would force clinics to close. The law was blocked by a federal judge and never went into effect.

In the meantime the Supreme Court took up Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. In oral arguments that day I was decked out in purple and screaming in front of the highest court in the land. The state of Texas insisted that the TRAP law wasn’t really anti-abortion, but was instead about promoting women’s safety. 

Just two days later the Court blocked Louisiana’s TRAP law from taking effect. Three months later it declared the Texas TRAP law unconstitutional. Kennedy and the Court’s four liberal justices understood that the law might have used sanguine language, but it was really meant to force clinics to close. And if clinics were forced to close, accessing a legal abortion would be dramatically harder, thus violating the “undue burden” statute of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 ruling that upheld Roe v. Wade. 

What’s At Stake

If judicial precedent means anything, the ruling in Whole Woman’s Health should mean that the Louisiana TRAP law is also unconstitutional. But the Court looks radically different now than it did then, with Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh swinging the bench hard to the right. Both are fervently anti-abortion, as are the other three conservative justices. Upholding judicial precedent when it comes to abortion rights isn’t in their interest. Their ultimate target is bigger than this law: it’s overturning Roe v. Wade and ending nationwide legal abortion.

If the Court rules against June Medical Services and upholds the TRAP law, it would gut abortion access so severely that, for many, accessing it would become impossible. Currently, Louisiana has only three abortion clinics, a woefully low number that can’t possibly accommodate the level of need. If this TRAP law is upheld, it would leave the state with a single abortion clinic, joining six other states which share that tragic circumstance.

But it wouldn’t just affect Louisiana. In a region that’s already seen abortion access decimated by TRAP laws, abortion bans, and hostile protesters, this would spell disaster for the southeast. Other states, with legislatures dominated by far-right conservatives would immediately push through similar legislation. TRAP laws in still other states that have been blocked by federal judges -- like Mississippi, which only has one clinic left as it stands -- would likely resurface through the Court system, and could be allowed to go into effect. 

The result would be an abortion provider desert throughout the Southeast and Midwest. Clinics would disappear, and travel distances would escalate. A day-trip by car would become a day-trip by plane. The cost of accessing an abortion would skyrocket from a few hundred dollars to thousands, pushing it out of reach for low-income women. 

While Roe v. Wade would still technically be the law of the land, it would be meaningless in practice.

What You Can Do

It’s easy to feel despondent about the state of abortion rights. And while we have no control over how the Court will rule, we do have control over how we protect access to safe abortion now. Here are some things you can do:

• Right now there is an abortion clinic in every single state. Find out which abortion clinic is closest to you and reach out to them. Do they need volunteer clinic escorts? Are there any fundraising efforts for low-income patients that you can support? Do they need anyone in the community to help lobby the City Council for protection? Ask the clinic what they need, and then do what you can to help. It’s easier than you think.

• Learn about abortion legislation in your city and state. Does your city have a buffer zone for abortion clinics to keep hostile protesters away from patients? Does your state bar Medicaid coverage of abortion for low-income patients? Where do your elected officials stand on abortion rights? If you don’t know, you can’t fight back. Do your homework, and then contact your officials about the need to protect abortion access.

• Most abortions are performed in a clinic, but not all. Self-managed abortion can be a safe option for those who can’t access a clinic or want to avoid the hostility and aggression of anti-choice protesters. Medication abortion, an FDA-approved combination of mifepristone and misoprostol (or simply taking misoprostol,) can be used safely at home to terminate a pregnancy. Learn more about self-managed abortion and how you can support efforts to make it more accessible.

• You can help destigmatize this incredibly common reality by talking openly about abortion with the people in your life. Say the word. Discuss what’s happening with your friends and family. Tell them about why abortion rights are important to you, and what it means on a human level when people can’t access this care. It may be scary to “rock the boat,” but it’s far scarier to live in a world where this basic human and constitutional right is only a memory.

No matter what happens in June Medical Services, whether the Court upholds the TRAP law or not, the need for access to safe abortion will still exist. If the Court accedes to Republican demands and considers overturning Planned Parenthood v. Casey in this case (which seems unlikely but is possible,) the need for access to safe abortion will still exist. And if the unthinkable happens, if the Court strikes down Roe v. Wade and ends nationwide legal abortion, the need for safe abortion will still exist.

Four years ago we thought that the fight was won. It isn’t. It’s only just beginning.

The question now becomes: What will we do? 

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Lauren Rankin is a freelance writer covering reproductive rights and feminist politics. Her work has been featured at the Washington Post, The Cut, Fast Company, Allure, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, SELF, Teen Vogue, and many more. She’s also served as a volunteer clinic escort at an independent abortion clinic in northern New Jersey since 2014. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.