Is Performing Abortion a Due Process Right?

Last week the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that Ohio Planned Parenthood affiliates and other abortion providers do not have a right to perform abortions with taxpayer funds.  The Court in Planned Parenthood v. Hodges summarized:

In 2016, Ohio passed a law that bars its health department from funding organizations that ‘[p]erform nontherapeutic abortions.’  Ohio Rev. Code § 3701.034(B)(1).  Two Planned Parenthood affiliates challenged the statute, claiming that it imposes an unconstitutional condition on public funding in violation of the Due Process Clause.  The affiliates are correct that the Ohio law imposes a condition on the continued receipt of state funds.  But that condition does not violate the Constitution because the affiliates do not have a due process right to perform abortions. 

Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote the majority opinion holding that Ohio’s law “will not create an undue burden on a woman’s right to an abortion.”  Read the full opinion here.

The National Law Journal noted that this case is a likely candidate to be soon argued before the Supreme Court of the United States.

This ruling is particularly timely with the movie opening of Unplanned, which very accurately and vividly illustrates the inner workings of Planned Parenthood as an abortion provider rather than a health center to protect women. 

While the portrayal has experienced challenges on Twitter and with advertising denials, the story pulls back the curtain on evidence that providing abortion to young women is not good health care. 

Last week’s court decision also clarifies that no abortion provider has a constitutionally protected right to receive taxpayer funding for those abortions.  

To learn more about the constitutional aspects of abortion and how they affect women and their families read The Rise and Fall of Women’s Rights: Have Sexuality and Reproductive Freedom Forfeited Victory?