Abstract:
In Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas Surgical Health Services v. Abbott, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit addressed whether a Texas statute imposed an undue burden on women's right to abortion by requiring physicians who perform or induce abortions to have admitting privileges. The court reviewed the constitutionality of the statute by applying the undue burden standard for evaluating abortion regulations and concluded that the admitting privileges requirement did not violate appellee's substantive due process rights. The way the court articulated and applied the undue burden test is inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent. If the Supreme Court upholds this diluted application of the undue burden test, ideologically driven legislatures will continue to target abortion providers with the aim of choking out the abortion right. The admitting privileges requirement is yet another misguided restriction aimed at sending women's rights back into the pre-Roe era of back-alley abortions.
