Mary Margaret Olohan |Social Issues Reporter
.
The United States Supreme Court has given the state of Indiana a second chance to review pro-life legislation formerly blocked by a lower court.
SCOTUS threw out the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling blocking two Republican backed, pro-life laws Thursday, Reuters reported. One of these laws would require women to see an ultrasound of their unborn baby before they obtained abortions, while the other one would require parental notification when a minor sought an abortion.
Vice President Mike Pence signed the ultrasound law when he was governor of Indiana in 2016, before he was selected as President Donald Trump’s running mate.
“We are heartened that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted us fresh opportunities to defend Indiana’s commonsense laws safeguarding women’s health and protecting, wherever possible, the lives of the unborn,” Republican Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Just days after the court narrowly struck down a law that would have decimated abortion access in Louisiana, the court has decided to give politicians opposed to abortion access another shot. #SCOTUS https://t.co/GpE7Z1gJX6
— Planned Parenthood (@PPIndKentucky) July 2, 2020
The justices instructed the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the laws while taking into account SCOTUS’s Monday ruling on June Medical Services v. Russo, Reuters reported.
The case involved an abortion provider that challenged a 2014 Louisiana state law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges in a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion facility. These admitting privileges would allow a woman to go directly to the hospital if she were to need urgent care.
SCOTUS ruled Monday that the law violated the rights of both women and abortion providers in Louisiana, and struck down the law.
“The Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion, referring to a similar law the court struck down in 2016. “Therefore Louisiana’s law cannot stand under our precedents.”
Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser celebrated news that SCOTUS would give the pro-life Indiana laws a second chance.
“We are pleased that the Seventh Circuit will reconsider its ruling striking down Indiana’s pro-life, pro-woman law, signed by then-Governor Mike Pence, that allows a woman considering abortion to see the growing child within her through ultrasound,” Dannenfelser said in a statement.
Dannenfelser said she was also pleased that the lower court will reconsider the parental consent law.
“We are confident that the Seventh Circuit will allow these compassionate, life-saving laws to stand upon further review,” Dannenfelser said.
Follow Mary Margaret on Twitter.
Get Citizensjournal.us Headlines free SUBSCRIPTION. Keep us publishing – DONATE
