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3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2016 Supreme Court strikes down Texas abortion clinic regulations Education board puts lead, radon testing rules on the fast track Justices voted 5-3 in favor of Texas clinics Requirement could be inalized this August By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court struck down Texas’ widely replicated regula- tion of abortion clinics Monday in the court’s biggest abortion case in nearly a quarter century. The justices voted 5-3 in favor of Texas clinics that had argued the regulations were only a veiled attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions in the nation’s sec- ond-most populous state. Justice Stephen Breyer’s majority opinion for the court held that the regulations are medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limit a wom- an’s right to an abortion. Texas had argued that its 2013 law and subsequent reg- ulations were needed to pro- tect women’s health. The rules required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospi- tal-like standards for outpatient surgery. Breyer wrote that “the sur- gical-center requirement, like the admitting privileges require- ment, provides few, if any, health beneits for women, poses a sub- stantial obstacle to women seek- ing abortions and constitutes an ‘undue burden’ on their consti- tutional right to do so.” Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined Breyer. Ginsburg wrote a short opinion noting that laws like Texas’ “that do little or noth- ing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion, can- not survive judicial inspec- tion” under the court’s earlier abortion-rights decisions. She pointed speciically to Roe v. Wade in 1973 and Planned Par- enthood v. Casey in 1992. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. Thomas wrote that the deci- sion “exempliies the court’s troubling tendency ‘to bend the rules when any effort to limit abortion, or even to speak in opposition to abortion, is at issue.”’ Thomas was quoting an earlier abortion dissent from Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February. Scalia has not The Oregon Board of Education is fast-tracking adoption of a new rule that requires schools to test for lead and radon and report those results to the public. The rule came on the heels of a scandal in Portland Public Schools over lead in drinking water that went unreported, and a directive by Gov. Kate Brown. “I think an additional layer of checks and balances when we are talking about student safety so I think this will make parents feel much better,” said Board Chair- woman Miranda Summer. The board heard a irst reading of the rule Thursday and plans a public hearing — and potential adoption — in August. The requirement will entail additional costs to schools and the state Department of Edu- cation. The Legislative Fiscal Ofice is working on an esti- mate on what those costs will be. Legislative leadership has asked the Emergency Board to allocate money to pay for it. Brown in April directed the Department of Education and Oregon Health Authority to review existing require- ments for environmental test- ing and address the problem of lead in drinking water. During the review, health and education oficials learned that neither the education department nor the health authority has the power to require schools test for lead, said Emily Nazarov, operations policy analyst with the educa- tion department’s government and legal affairs section. The health authority has authority to require testing AP Photo/Evan Vucci Bethany Van Kampen, left, hugs Alejandra Pablus as thet celebrate during a rally at the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday,, after the court struck down Texas’ widely repli- cated regulation of abortion clinics. yet been replaced, so only eight justices voted. Alito, reading a summary of his dissent in court, said the clin- ics should have lost on techni- cal, procedural grounds. Alito said the court was adopting a rule of, “If at irst you don’t suc- ceed, sue, sue again.” Abortion providers said the rules would have cut the num- Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproduc- tive Rights, which represented the clinics, said, “The Supreme Court sent a loud and clear mes- sage that politicians cannot use deceptive means to shut down abortion clinics.” Democratic presidential can- didate Hillary Clinton called the decision “a victory for women The law ‘was an effort to improve minimum safety standards and ensure capable care for Texas women.’ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ber of abortion clinics in Texas by three-fourths if they had been allowed to take full effect. When then-Gov. Rick Perry signed the law in 2013, there were about 40 clinics through- out the state. That number dropped to under 20 and would have been cut in half again if the law had taken full effect, the clinics said. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the law “was an effort to improve minimum safety standards and ensure capable care for Texas women. It’s exceedingly unfortunate that the court has taken the abil- ity to protect women’s health out of the hands of Texas cit- izens and their duly elected representatives.” in Texas and across America.” Texas is among 10 states with similar admitting-priv- ileges requirements, accord- ing to the Center for Reproduc- tive Rights. The requirement is in effect in most of Texas, Mis- souri, North Dakota and Ten- nessee. It is on hold in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. The hospital-like outpatient surgery standards are in place in Michigan, Missouri, Penn- sylvania and Virginia, and it is blocked in Tennessee and Texas, according to the center. Texas passed a broad bill imposing several abortion restrictions in 2013. Texas clin- ics sued immediately to block it, contending it impermissibly interfered with a woman’s con- stitutional right to an abortion. The clinics won several favor- able rulings in a federal district court in Texas. But each time, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state, at irst allowing challenged provisions to take effect and then upholding the law with only slight exceptions. The Supreme Court had allowed the admitting-privi- leges requirement to take effect in most of the state, but put the surgical center provision on hold pending the court’s resolu- tion of the case. The justices split largely along liberal-conservative lines in their emergency orders, with the court’s conservative justices voting repeatedly to let the law be enforced. Separate lawsuits are pend- ing over admitting-privileges laws in Louisiana and Missis- sippi, the other states covered by the 5th circuit. The laws are on hold in both states, and a panel of federal appellate judges has concluded the Mississippi law probably is unconstitutional because it would force the only abortion clinic in the state to close. A separate appeal is pend- ing at the Supreme Court from Wisconsin, where federal judges have struck down that state’s admitting-privileges law. Conceal Carry permit c classes sses Thursday, June 30 th 1pm and 6pm WALK-IN’S WA WELCOME W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 In hon or of Ju ly 4th, The D aily Astorian ’s offices in Astoria an d S easid e w ill b e CLOSED MONDAY, JULY 4 PAPER DELIVERY WILL PROCEED AS USUAL H ave a safe holiday! Classified Deadlines: Friday, July 1, 11am for Monday, July 4 BEST WESTERN 555 Hamburg Ave, Astoria, OR OR/Utah - valid in WA $80 or Oregon only $45 Friday, July 1, 1pm for Tuesday, July 5 MULTI-STATE NEWS TALK FOR THE COAST Pro viding live a nd lo ca l new s co vera ge every da y Y ou could see it ton igh t, rea d a bout it tom orrow or h ea r it live N O W ! *Resident Permit Valid in 35 States; Non-Resident Valid in 30 States: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, *Colorado, Delaware, *Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, *Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, *New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, *Pennsylvania, *South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming *Not pictured: Alaska, Hawaii 360.921.2071 of public water systems, but schools are excluded from the agency’s jurisdiction. The proposed rule would require school districts, char- ter schools and education ser- vices districts to conduct lead and radon testing and to sub- mit an environmental moni- toring plan to the Department of Education for keeping water, air and physical spaces safe for students and staff. The health authority already had authority to require schools to test for radon, but the new rule will provide com- prehensive guidance to schools on all of the testing required. Schools will be required to report their test results to the education department and to the community annually. School Board Member Samuel Henry said if the Legislature doesn’t approve additional funding for imple- menting the rule it could be another one of those “famous unfunded mandates.” The agencies asked schools to test for lead during the summer. All of the dis- tricts have either completed or are in the process of test- ing, Nazarov said. The agen- cies recommend that schools identify sources of lead, stop access, communicate results to staff, students, parents and the community and mitigate and repair the problem. “Districts are doing a lot of this already,” Nazarov said. “Portland (Public Schools) mentioned at one of the meet- ings one of their learning points is make sure you are documenting this. Repairs are done. People leave organiza- tions, and nobody knows that the repair was done or when it was done, and that information is lost. This is a way to make sure there is a record that the community has access to and that that info is available.” The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. 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