Supreme Disappointment – Not Entirely

There was a lot of disappointment yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled 9-to-0 on the abortion pill case. I am disappointed! But the Court did not rule that abortion pills are okay. Those of us who are pro-life need to be careful how we frame this.

The justices ruled that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the case, and the justices could not find how they were harmed in a way that required the Court to intervene. Every justice agreed with that decision.

Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network and a former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, said there is a silver lining in this 9-to-0 decision that we should not overlook. She said:

“It's notable that the Court went out of its way to underscore the importance of conscience rights and say that existing federal law protects rather than coerces pro-life doctors. . .  Hospitals can no longer hide behind specious legal arguments to strong-arm doctors, contrary to their consciences.”

In other words, pro-life doctors and hospital staff have strong protections against being forced to perform abortions or provide abortion pills.

That was one of the reasons why the justices ruled 9-to-0. Even the liberals had to accept the notion that pro-life doctors cannot be forced to participate in abortions.

While I am disappointed that the Court did not examine whether the FDA’s relaxed regulations were legal or not, they did, by a 9-to-0 vote, uphold a major principle in the battle we have been fighting.