The Abortion Law Patchwork : High court’s new ruling offers little comfort to backers of right to choose

The U.S. Supreme Court rightly refused Monday, in a 6-3 vote, to revive a 1990 Guam law that banned nearly all abortions. Earlier this year a federal circuit court had held that law unconstitutional. In light of the Supreme Court’s June decision reasserting a woman’s basic right to an abortion--while also endorsing restrictions--Monday’s action is no surprise. But neither is it much comfort to supporters of abortion rights.

Since its 1989 ruling known as the Webster decision, the Supreme Court has virtually invited states to experiment with abortion restrictions. The result has been a patchwork of laws ranging from Guam’s law criminalizing the procedure to milder but nonetheless onerous restrictions, including mandatory waiting periods and lectures on alternatives to abortion.

Last summer’s long-awaited ruling on Pennsylvania’s law was the first major decision about abortion handed down by the high court’s new conservative majority--a direct test of the Roe vs. Wade guarantee that a woman has a virtually unrestricted right to abortion in the first trimester. While explicitly upholding a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy, the court tried to fashion a new constitutional test that would permit new state restrictions: Restrictions that pose an “undue burden” on a woman are unconstitutional, the court held, while those that do not so burden a woman can stand. This test is vague and unworkable.

Other court challenges to Roe are pending, and states will likely enact still more restrictions on abortion. Moreover, even where there are no legal restrictions, safe abortions are becoming harder to obtain. Fewer young physicians opt to learn the procedure, and those who do increasingly risk intimidation. That’s why the only satisfactory solution is clear federal legislative guidance. If a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion in some states, such as California, logic and notions of equal protection dictate that it should be so in all states.

A freedom-of-choice act will be reintroduced soon after Congress reconvenes in January. The bill codifies Roe, banning state restriction of a woman’s right to an abortion before fetal viability. Congress must pass this bill so President-elect Bill Clinton can fulfill his vow to sign it.