Letter: Advocate for women’s reproductive rights

On March 2, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt - the first landmark abortion case that has made it to the Supreme Court in nine years.

This case challenges a Texas law known as HB2 on the grounds that it causes 'undue burden” to women seeking reproductive health care. HB2 requires free-standing abortion clinics in Texas to have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles and to have surgical center standards. These requirements would shutter all but nine abortion clinics in Texas, leaving women in poor and rural areas without access to a service that is theoretically legal.

These requirements are not medically necessary, and other health care services are not bound by the same restrictions. Dialysis has higher rates of complication than abortion, but free-standing dialysis clinics are not subject to these standards. HB2 masquerades as a law that protects women, but is meant to close down abortion clinics and restrict women's rights. When women do not have access to safe and legal abortions, abortions do not decrease. Instead, women resort to unsafe measures to access abortion.

A decision in this case is expected in June, and we as a nation need to pay attention to the ever-mounting attacks on abortion and advocate for women's reproductive rights. We have a chance with Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt to stand on the right side of history - firmly on the side of a woman's right to safe and legal abortion.

Robin Berman

Iowa City