Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas voted to allow the clinics to close as scheduled.  In a 5-4 vote, the Court decided to grant clinics an emergency appeal. 

HB 2 has been through a series of appeals, but landed at the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month, where it was upheld.  The U.S. Supreme Court granted the abortion lobby’s only hope today by halting the Texas pro-life law. 

Now those interests may be heard by the high court, which indicated it may revisit the issue of abortion.  SCOTUS Blog tweeted:

At issue is a provision of HB 2 that requires abortion facilities to uphold medical safety standards.  The law also mandates hospital admitting privileges for abortionists. 

Pro-abortion attorneys say enforcing the law would actually close 75 percent of all Texas abortion clinics in just two years, “creating a severe shortage of safe and legal abortion services in a state that is home to more than five million reproductive–age women,” The New York Times reports. 

Instead, the Supreme Court has decided to allow abortions to continue, even though some abortionists may not be able to admit a woman to a hospital in the case of abortion complications.  While this is a likely indicator that the court will take on abortion in its next term, it is a frightening reality for women who may suffer abortion complications in one of these facilities and not be able to get immediate medical care.