The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Alabama's request to hear its appeal of a lower court decision that overturned the state's ban on a procedure commonly used in second trimester abortions.
The conservative-leaning 11th Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled against the ban on the procedure, known as dilation and evacuation, finding it was an "undue burden on abortion access.
" The Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case lets the appellate court decision stand, in a win for abortion rights supporters.The West Alabama Women's Center sued to overturn the 2016 ban, arguing that reducing access to abortions later in pregnancy disproportionately harms the “most vulnerable residents” of the state and may expose women to significant medical risks. The ban on the procedure was separate from Alabama's recently enacted law prohibiting abortion at any point during pregnancy.
The state argued that dilation and evacuation is "just as disturbing" as dilation and extraction, an abortion method later in pregnancy the Supreme Court allowed to be banned in 2007, and repeatedly refer to it in legal filings as a "dismemberment abortion." The state also claimed courts should not block the law because there is "medical uncertainty" over whether or not it forces doctors to use riskier methods.
Justice Clarence Thomas condemned the court's refusal to take the case and several abortion-related challenges the court passed on in the term that ended Thursday.
"This case serves as a stark reminder that our abortion jurisprudence has spiraled out of control," Thomas wrote.
Several other states have passed dilation and evacuation bans over the last few years, including Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia.
Courts have blocked most from taking effect, and some of the states have no doctor willing to perform abortions later in pregnancy.Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine