Less than a week after overturning landmark case Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) sent three abortion-related cases back down to lower courts for reconsideration.
Last week’s ruling in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization sent shockwaves across the country. Both Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey were overturned, sending pro-abortion advocates into a frenzy.
CNN noted that two of the cases sent back to lower courts involved measures that states passed prohibiting abortions in cases where the unborn child was diagnosed with specific genetic abnormalities. A third case involved an Indiana parental notification law for abortions for underage women in Indiana.
Two of the cases concerned measures states had passed prohibiting abortions sought solely because the fetus had been diagnosed with certain genetic abnormalities. After last week's ruling in Dobbs, one of the states, Arkansas, enacted an outright ban on abortion.
In Arizona, the other state seeking to revive a ban on abortions sought because of genetic abnormalities, state Attorney General Mark Brnovich has vowed to revive a 1901 law criminalizing abortion and some clinics have stopped offering the procedure.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court said Friday that, in the genetic abnormalities case, a court order halting the law had been lifted.
The third case before the Supreme Court concerned an Indiana parental notification law. Like Arizona, abortion remains legal in Indiana, though the state's Republican leaders are planning to reconvene the legislature later this summer to consider additional anti-abortion measures.
Townhall reported this week how President Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services unveiled a website in response to the Roe overturn that directs women, including those younger than 15, to resources to obtain an abortion without parental consent or notification. The government website, ReproductiveRights.gov, advises users to utilize AbortionFinder.org to track down a clinic to get an abortion. It directs users to a separate website, called the Repro Legal Hotline, that helps minors get a judicial bypass in order to get an abortion without their parents' knowledge.
I covered in February how a Florida teenager won an appeal to obtain an abortion without parental consent. “Jane Doe” knew her parents would not consent to her getting an abortion and she petitioned for a judicial bypass to access information regarding a medication abortion pill and the ability to have the pill administered if she chooses to do so.
