The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday March 3 in a case, June Medical Services v. Russo, concerning Louisiana legislation which makes abortion not illegal but much more difficult to obtain. In another case, only 4 years ago, the Court held that almost identical legislation in Texas created an undue burden on women seeking abortions because the result was that most clinics providing abortions would have to close because they could not meet the addition requirements. Lower courts had found these requirements would not in fact to make the procedure safer.
The case this year raises the question of stare decisis (or the rule of precedent) since the only thing that distinguishes the two cases is the composition of the Court, with two new justices known to be opposed to abortion rights.
Counsel for the state of Louisiana also raised a procedural question of standing, saying that the abortion clinic doctors cannot make the argument that the legislation is unconstitutional, only women seeking abortions have standing to do this.
NPR's legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg, presents the case here. 6 min., 50 sec.
Earlier reporting on NPR can be found here. 3 min., 49 sec., transcript available.
The NPR station in Boston's program, Here and Now, has an interview with Dahlia Lithwick, who writes about the Court for Slate, about the case here. 7 min., 14 sec., no transcript.
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