This Comic Illustrates the Problem With Anti-Abortion Laws
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This week, the U.S. Supreme court shot down Texas' abortion restrictions law known as HB 2. In the process, the court sent a strong message to states across the country about the constitutionality of laws that place hurdles in front of women seeking abortions.
Though HB 2 passed under the pretense that it would safeguard women's health, five of eight Supreme Court justices disagreed.
What HB 2 really did was create extra hoops for women to jump through if they intended to have an abortion. And now, in light of the ruling, Planned Parenthood plans to wage legal battles against eight states that have similar abortion laws, The Washington Post reports.
This comic by Nick Anderson illustrates the argument against HB 2.
GoComics/Nick Anderson - gocomics.com
In the comic, literal obstacles to "women's health care" represent the restrictive policies under HB 2. The law required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals and clinics to meet higher standards previously reserved for ambulatory surgical centers.
The effect was felt across the state: some doctors were denied admitting privileges from local hospitals for ideological reasons and more than half of the state's 44 abortion clinics were shuttered. Now Planned Parenthood is going to try and use the Supreme Court ruling as leverage in legal battles against eight states: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
AP/Bill Clark - apimages.com
"We will fight back state by state and law by law until every person has access to safe, legal abortion," Dawn Laguens, the executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement emailed to ATTN:. "No matter how long it takes, these laws will fall. There is power in our voices. There is power in our movement."
