Let’s start with the basics: Jegley dealt with four Arkansas abortion restrictions. The undue burden test has been used to judge the constitutionality of tax laws, consumer product liability laws, affirmative action, voter registration laws, abortion laws, and even anti-spam laws.

Not many, it seems.

Telling the police about every minor having an abortion would invade patients’ privacy and discourage them from ending a pregnancy. Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.

But with June Medical, Roberts transformed the undue burden test, making it far less protective of abortion rights. The case, Whole Woman’s Health, et al.

The undue burden test is the legal standard that courts use to determine whether an abortion restriction violates the Constitution. Roe v. Wade to the Present. protects the fundamental right to choose abortion.

Requiring full medical records might create long delays and expose patients to harassment. Some doctors could not safely perform abortions after the first 12 weeks if forced to rely on unproven alternatives to dilation and evacuation.

Jegley is much more than a single interpretation of June Medical.

In 2017, a trial court held that all of these laws failed the test set by the court for abortion restrictions, because they imposed an “undue burden” on patients seeking abortions.

At the time, progressives celebrated what seemed to be a big victory for abortion rights. v. Cole, et al., would potentially set forth with greater specificity than ever before what kinds of abortion laws constitute an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to abortion. People who support abortion rights are waiting for a big announcement that Roe is gone. While we wait to learn Roe’s official fate, the right to abortion may have functionally disappeared. One bans the safest and most common method of abortion after the first trimester, dilation and evacuation. Now, judges don’t have to worry if legislators are relying on dubious evidence — or if a restriction serves any purpose at all. Arkansas also mandates that doctors call the police any time anyone under age 17 has an abortion. States could make it impossible to have a safe abortion after the first trimester. Legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin proclaimed that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in joining his more liberal colleagues, had turned over a new leaf.

How the Supreme Court could overturn Roe — while claiming to respect precedent. The new standard asks whether a state abortion regulation has the purpose or effect of imposing an "undue burden," which is defined as a "substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability." How “undue burden”—a concept nurtured by anti-abortion groups and championed by the first woman on the Supreme Court—has eroded the right to choose. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which just handed down a decision in Hopkins v. Jegley, had the first crack at interpreting the Supreme Court’s recent decision in June Medical Services v. Russo. Undue burdens are not permitted by law, and there are legal procedures for determining whether or not a burden is undue. Notifying a sexual partner about the disposal of fetal remains could endanger victims of domestic violence and give them second thoughts about having an abortion. TITLE: Undue Burden DIR: GINA POLLACK RUNNING TIME: [07:19] [montage of voices] My dad doesn’t even know. If almost no restrictions count as an undue burden, there won’t be much of Roe left to overrule. We don’t know yet exactly what Roberts counts as an undue burden, but with Jegley, the 8th Circuit is predicting that all of Arkansas’s restrictions — and possibly a whole lot more — are perfectly constitutional. Red states are working to dictate how, when and why patients have abortions, and the Supreme Court has already laid the groundwork to uphold these laws. Since President Trump nominated Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, everyone has placed bets about how long it would be before Roe v. Wade was overturned. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, Mary Ziegler is the Stearns Weaver Miller professor at Florida State University College of Law and author of ", Discussion of news topics with a point of view, including narratives by individuals regarding their own experiences, Abortion and the Law in America, The long fight for reproductive rights is only getting harder, How Democrats purged ‘safe, legal, rare’ from the party.

The undue burden test is the legal standard that courts use to determine whether an abortion restriction violates the Constitution. Comparing the Jane Collective, which provided abortions before Roe v. Wade, to today’s Midwest Access Coalition, a practical abortion fund, Undue Burdens is a short documentary film that showcases the women who have mobilized to help other women when the laws have not. The Supreme Court struck down a Lousiana law Monday that required abortion doctors to have admitting rights at hospitals, calling it an 'Undue Burden' on women. So what kinds of abortion restrictions count as unduly burdensome now? The most significant abortion case in a quarter of a century will likely be heard by the Supreme Court in the coming year. An undue burden is an obstacle that is intentionally and unfairly put in the way of a party that is seeking to exercise a constitutional right.


undue burden; undue burden Primary tabs. Before, courts had to consider whether restrictions delivered any benefit. States might not be able to pass wholesale bans that criminalize all abortions, without exceptions for rape and incest — but up to that limit, almost everything else might be fair game. After June Medical, if legislators can claim with a straight face that a matter is scientifically uncertain, the courts should give them more room to regulate abortion. Undue Burden When actually getting an abortion is even harder than the decision to have one.

Chief Justice John Roberts explained that the government should not place "undue burden" on abortion providers’ ability to exploit poor and frightened women for cash. What everyone forgot is that the Supreme Court can functionally eliminate access to abortion without saying a word about Roe itself. Before, courts had to consider whether restrictions delivered any benefit.
In the field of reproductive rights, having the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a fetus that is not yet viable. The test dates back to Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), in which the Supreme Court heard a … The courts used to take a hard look at all the evidence about a law’s balance of benefits and burdens in a given case, even when states demanded deference. They could ban medication abortions or proscribe procedures sought for reasons that lawmakers view as objectionable.

In that earlier case, the high court struck down a Louisiana law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

Another requires a doctor to get a patient’s complete medical history before performing an abortion. And after every procedure, the state requires that both genetic parents consent to the state’s chosen method for disposing of fetal remains. But with June Medical, Roberts transformed the undue burden test, making it far less protective of abortion rights. It’s a preview of how the court can dismantle abortion rights without appearing partisan, or triggering the kind of backlash the chief justice seeks to avoid: Judges can simply redefine “undue burden,” again and again.

That moment may never come, but in the end, it may not matter. But this week, the 8th Circuit said that none of this was as simple as the trial judge made it sound.

This week’s abortion decision out of Arkansas should certainly refresh everyone’s memories. But the Hopkins v. Jegley suggests that the new John G. Roberts Jr. is a lot like the old one — and that the court is well on its way to dismantling abortion rights. Under this standard, the only provision to fail the undue-burden test was the husband notification requirement.

In 2017, when the trial judge first ruled in Jegley, courts applying the undue burden test had to balance the benefits and burdens created by an abortion regulation. The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Undue burdens are commonly involved in commerce and abortion-related clinics.