The U.S. Supreme Court today announced it would hear a case involving a challenge to Texas's regulation of abortion clinics. In her four-paragraph story on the matter, however The Hill newspaper's Sarah Ferris failed to explain the perspective of defenders of the law.
Here's her story in full:
The Supreme Court on Friday announced that it would hear a challenge to a controversial Texas abortion law, marking the beginning of the biggest legal fight over abortion in decades.Opponents of the legislation argue that it has created barriers to abortion that violate the court's last landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade.
They say it has already led to the closure of the majority of the state’s clinics because doctors cannot meet the new state standards, which are among the nation's strictest.
The law was signed by then-Gov. Rick Perry in 2013, drawing national attention after then-state Sen. Wendy Davis staged a marathon 13-hour filibuster.
You'll notice there's no part of her story where Ferris gives a summation of how defenders of the law justify it, namely that the regulations are similar to those governing other outpatient surgical facilities -- abortion being an outpatient surgical procedure.
It's also curious to name check Wendy Davis but fail to mention she was trounced in her gubernatorial bid, including among women voters, after campaigning hard on her message of being a champion of a woman's right to have an abortion. Of course, mentioning that would underscore that Texans by and large favor the abortion-clinic regulation law and reject the arguments of pro-choice absolutists like Ms. Davis.
