We write to you as organizations strongly opposed to S. 15531, an unconstitutional and dangerous limitation on abortion that puts women’s health and rights at risk. The bill’s provisions represent an appalling lack of compassion for—or trust in—the women who would be affected by this ban. By significantly interfering in both women’s personal decisions and their relationships with their healthcare providers, this bill is part and parcel of a nationwide campaign that has only one ultimate goal: to forever eliminate women’s access to reproductive health care.
S. 1553 is unconstitutional. S. 1553 violates established constitutional standards by imposing a pre-viability abortion ban. Furthermore, the bill’s failure to include a health exception also violate the constitutional standards. Each time a pre-viability ban on abortion has been challenged in court, it has been blocked. In January of 2014, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a similar abortion ban passed in Arizona, thereby leaving in effect an appellate court ruling striking down the ban as unconstitutional