Will The Latest Abortion Laws Hold Up In Court?

Slate legal affairs editor Emily Bazelon writes that Texas joins 11 other states where abortions are banned at some point in the second trimester of pregnancy such as after 20 weeks, but it's unlikely that those kinds of laws will pass muster at the Supreme Court.

It's also unclear where courts will come down on new laws in 12 states, including Texas, that restrict access to abortion-inducing medication.

And 26 states now have laws that increase regulations on abortion clinics, such as requiring providers to have hospital admitting privileges.

"As significant as these new laws are, no state has yet succeeded in winning the race to be the first without a clinic. The courts still stand between the legislature and the patient. And for the most part, they are on her side" Bazelon told Here & Now.

Emily Bazelon/Slate "After all, while the wave of legislation comes out of a deep and abiding rift, a lot of it is also political theater—of use to both sides. Let’s go from least to most plausible—from the laws that are largely symbolic to the ones that keep pro-choice lawyers up at night."

National Journal "The antiabortion movement's success, however, stems in part from activists making the case that tougher clinic regulation is a mainstream cause to improve women's safety. In Texas, the new rules are wrapped around a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, a limit that most Americans support, according to recent polling."