As Supreme Court ponders Louisiana abortion case, Sanders promises to ban state regulation of abortion

2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders released a reproductive health care plan Saturday that promises to ban state regulations of abortion as the Supreme Court hears a case pertaining to the same issue.

The Vermont senator’s plan promises to not only codify Roe v. Wade and to undo “all the damage” that President Donald Trump has done through pro-life legislation, but also to ban Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws.

“There has been no time in the history of this country when women, especially Black women, have had the reproductive freedom and justice that they deserve,” Sanders tweeted Saturday. “In my administration, that will finally change.”

Sanders would “ban state Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws that put undue and unnecessary burdens and regulations on doctors who provide abortion services, with the goal of restricting access.”

He also promised that he will “require preclearance for state abortion laws” to make sure that states cannot “impose undue restrictions” on abortion providers.

Sanders’s plan draws on an abortion case that is before the Supreme Court: June Medical Services v. Russo, in which an abortion provider is challenging a 2014 Louisiana state law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges in a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion facility. These admitting privileges would allow a woman to go directly to the hospital if she were to need urgent care.

Opponents say the law would hinder and potentially eliminate abortion access in Louisiana. Louisiana lawmakers and pro-life activists maintain that the law protects women from unsanitary or unsafe abortion clinic practices.

Sanders also criticized 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden on Saturday for the former vice president’s record on abortion, pointing out that Biden once said, “I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far.”

Two years after Roe v. Wade was decided Joe Biden said: "I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body." pic.twitter.com/6fWBGKBm2H

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 7, 2020