In the decision below, the Eighth Circuit correctly applied these longstanding principles to invalidate an Arkansas law barring abortion in cases where the pregnant person seeks care because of a fetal indica- tion of Down syndrome.
The Eighth Circuit also noted that the lower courts have consistently recognized that allowing the State to interrogate and pass upon a person’s reason for making the decision to end a pregnancy is anti- thetical to the core privacy right at issue.
Here, in contrast, it is “undisputed” that Arkan- sas’s Act 619 operates as “a complete prohibition of abortions based on the pregnant woman’s reason for exercising the right to terminate her pregnancy be- fore viability.” Pet. App. 10a (emphasis added); see id. at 4a, 7a-10a, 136a; see Pet. 32 (conceding that there is no dispute on “the severity” of the law’s effect in this case).
often lack the “access to affordable resources and sup- ports they need to live a healthy, comfortable life, in- cluding medical care, therapies, inclusion in schools, employment opportunities, and independent living.” See Dkt. 63, ¶¶ 6-8 (declaration of parent of child with Down syndrome in Arkansas) Instead of adopting any of these measures, the Ar- kansas legislature simply enacted Act 619 without consideration of any alternatives to advance the State’s purported interest.
Rather, it urged the Eighth Circuit to hold that “the existence of a ‘substantial ob- stacle’ [i]s ‘a sufficient basis for’ invalidating the chal- lenged regulations and no additional analysis or weighing [i]s necessary.” Response to Pet’n for Re- hearing En Banc 5, Hopkins v. Jegley, No. 17-2879 (8th Cir. Oct. 14, 2020) (quoting June Med.