More than 200 members of Congress asked the Supreme Court to consider overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, when it takes up a major abortion case this spring.
The request was in an amicus brief filed Thursday in support of a Louisiana law the Supreme Court is reviewing that requires doctors who provide abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
A total of 207 lawmakers agreed that the Louisiana law should be allowed to stand, but also said the high court’s decisions on Roe and its 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision, which allowed states to regulate abortion, “should be reconsidered and, if appropriate, overruled.”
The 39 Republicans in the Senate and 168 lawmakers in the House, all of them Republicans except for Democrats Dan Lipinski and Collin Peterson, want the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe and Casey. If Roe were to be overturned, then decisions about the legalization of abortion would fall to states, some of whom are already poised to make abortion illegal.
Abortion rights groups have been concerned about the weakening or overturning of Roe since the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed two of President Trump’s Supreme Court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. The Roe decision legalized abortion across the United States until fetal viability, which is generally understood to be about 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
The Supreme Court is set to hear the Louisiana case, June Medical Services v. Gee, in March. It’s similar to a 2016 Supreme Court case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, in which justices struck down the admitting privileges rules.
When the Supreme Court considered the question of admitting privileges before, under a different bench makeup, they ruled that the restrictions posed an “undue burden” on women seeking access to abortion, which was the standard set by Casey.
The case was appealed to the Supreme Court after the majority of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to uphold the law in September and declined a request for the full court to reconsider the panel’s decision. The decision was unusual because typically lower courts tend to uphold Supreme Court precedent.
Louisiana did not ask the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe and Casey. Anti-abortion organizations and lawmakers who support restrictions such as the Louisiana law say they are necessary to protect women’s health, but abortion rights advocates contend that they effectively shutter clinics, placing abortions out of reach, and that they are not necessary.
If the restrictions go into effect, two of Louisiana’s three abortion clinics are expected to close because they would not be able to meet the requirement. If the justices allow the law to take effect, other states that seek to restrict abortion are likely to pass similar laws, which would cause more clinics to close.
[Previous coverage: GOP senator rips Roe v. Wade: ‘One of the most poorly-reasoned’ decisions in SCOTUS history]
