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Speaker 1: A divided US Supreme Court struck down Texas abortion restrictions

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Speaker 1: that had threatened to close three quarters of the state's

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Speaker 1: clinics by putting new requirements on facilities and doctors. The

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Speaker 1: five three ruling is the Court's first abortion decision in

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Speaker 1: nearly a decade. Joining us now to discuss the ramifications

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Speaker 1: of this vote and what it means moving forward is

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Speaker 1: Kimberly Robinson. She's Supreme Court report reporter for Bloomberg be

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Speaker 1: An a based in the Washington metro area. Kimberly, welcome

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Speaker 1: to the show for having me, so tell us exactly

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Speaker 1: what this decision means. Well, the decision here means that

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Speaker 1: the states that are looking to enact abortion regulations will

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Speaker 1: face strict, strict standards um from courts that are looking

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Speaker 1: at those regulations going forward. So the case here involved

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Speaker 1: to Texas regulations that the states that were intended to

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Speaker 1: make a boys safer for women um and in particular,

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Speaker 1: these regulations require doctors to obtain admitting privileges at nearby

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Speaker 1: hospitals and required abortion facilities themselves UM to comply with

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Speaker 1: some stretty, pretty strict standards that are applicable to other

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Speaker 1: outpatient curgical centers. So what were the legal aspects? What

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Speaker 1: was it? What was it the crux of the argument

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Speaker 1: that they had to decide. Well, so, as I mentioned this,

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Speaker 1: the States said that, you know, these regulations are really

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Speaker 1: meant to ensure that abortions are safe for women. But

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Speaker 1: the challengers here said that that wasn't really the intention

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Speaker 1: of these laws at all, that in fact, these laws

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Speaker 1: were intended to limit access to abortion for the more

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Speaker 1: than five million Texas women who are a child bearing age.

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Speaker 1: They noted that there were forty abortion clinics serving uh

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Speaker 1: those five million women before these regulations went into place.

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Speaker 1: But if both of these regulations were found to be

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Speaker 1: valid and did go into place, then Texas will be

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Speaker 1: left with just seven or eight clinics um to service

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Speaker 1: all of those women. Now you note or we note

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Speaker 1: our story that abortion rights advocates called the case the

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Speaker 1: biggest since when the Court reaffirmed the constitutional right to

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Speaker 1: end a pregnancy. Uh, what does it mean? Now? Are

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Speaker 1: lots of laws going to be challenged? What does it mean? Well,

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Speaker 1: there are similar laws in other states, and the course

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Speaker 1: broad language means that those laws are likely unconstitutional. That

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean that states may not enact more abortion regulations.

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Speaker 1: But it does mean that courts are going to take

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Speaker 1: a very close look at these regulations. So it was

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Speaker 1: an unclear question before today's decision, you know, whether the

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Speaker 1: states would really have to prove the benefits that they

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Speaker 1: that they were claiming these regulations would have, or whether

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Speaker 1: courts would just kind of take the legislatures at their word. Today,

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Speaker 1: in a five three decision by Justice Bryer on the

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Speaker 1: Court made clear that courts are going to look at

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Speaker 1: the evidence of the benefits and if they're not there,

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Speaker 1: then they're they're going to still those regulations that are

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Speaker 1: going to fall Comblie Robinson, thank you so very much

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Speaker 1: for joining US Supreme Court. Reporter for Bloomberg be An

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Speaker 1: a based in Arlington, Virginia,