The court has resoundingly affirmed what should not be a matter of controversy at all—that women have both a fundamental right to make their own choices about their reproductive health, and that government has no place in their decisions. Today's decision adds to the growing momentum of a nationwide backlash against the overreaching of lawmakers hostile to women, their doctors, and their rights.

This decision comes at the heels of other state legislatures reviewing similar matters. Last month, the US District Court for the Western District of Texas [official website] ruled [order, PDF] that Texas can begin enforcing [JURIST report] a state law that requires women to have a sonogram before undergoing an abortion. Also last month, the Virginia Senate approved a bill [JURIST report] that would require women seeking abortions to have transabdominal ultrasounds before the procedure, and require a doctor to inform a woman of the gestational age and development of the fetus. In October, a judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina [official website] issued a preliminary injunction [JURIST report], blocking part of the state's abortion law that required a physician to perform an ultrasound and describe the images to the patient. In March 2010 the Supreme Court of Oklahoma [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that a state law [SB 1878 text, RFT] imposing broad restrictions on abortion, including the requirement of an ultrasound one hour prior to the procedure, violated that state's constitution.