The Present and Future of Reproductive Rights

September 21, 2016 The Present and Future of Reproductive Rights Louis C. Greenwood Lecture Series CWRU Law Downtown at the City Club B. Jessie Hill This lecture analyzes the state of reproductive rights following the U.S. Supreme Court\u27s decision in the case Whole Woman\u27s Health v. Hellerstedt. In 2013, the Texas legislature passed House Bill 2, a law that imposed numerous restrictions on access to abortion services in the state through additional legal requirements for medical staff and facilities. The law, which was challenged in federal court, would result in the closure of an estimated 75 percent of all women’s health clinics that provide abortion services in the state and force women seeking those services to travel hundreds of miles as a result. In addition to analyzing the immediate impacts of the Supreme Court’s decision in Whole Woman\u27s Health v. Hellerstedt, the lecture will also review the vast slate of abortion restrictions enacted at the state level in recent years and consider the implications of the current Court\u27s jurisprudence for abortion legislation in the future