No. 21-3

Eric S. Schmitt, Attorney General of Missouri, et al. v. Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, Inc., et al.

Lower Court: Eighth Circuit
Docketed: 2021-07-02
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Experienced Counsel
Tags: abortion abortion-rights civil-rights down-syndrome due-process eugenic eugenic-abortion gestational-age reproductive-rights roe-v-wade state-regulation
Key Terms:
SocialSecurity FirstAmendment EmploymentDiscrimina JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2021-09-27
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether Missouri's restriction on abortions performed solely because the unborn child may have Down syndrome is categorically invalid under Casey and Roe v. Wade, or whether it is a valid, reasonable regulation of abortion that seeks to prevent the elimination of children with Down syndrome through eugenic abortion

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Missouri’s House Bill 126 (“HB 126”), enacted in 2019, prohibits medical providers from performing abortions when the provider knows that the sole reason for the abortion is a pretrial diagnosis or screening indicating that the unborn child does, or may, have Down syndrome (the “Down Syndrome Provision”). The same bill prohibits abortion providers from performing abortions after eight weeks, fourteen weeks, eighteen weeks, and twenty weeks of gestational age, alternatively (the “Gestational Age Restrictions’). The Eighth Circuit invalidated both the Down Syndrome Provision and the Gestational Age Restrictions as “categorically unconstitutional” under Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992). The questions presented are: 1. Whether Missouri’s restriction on abortions performed solely because the unborn child may have Down syndrome is categorically invalid under Casey and Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 1138 (1973), or whether it is a valid, reasonable regulation of abortion that seeks to prevent the elimination of children with Down syndrome through eugenic abortion? 2. Whether Missouri’s restrictions on abortions performed after eight, fourteen, eighteen, and twenty weeks of gestational age are categorically invalid, or whether they are valid, reasonable regulations of abortion that advance important state interests? 3. Whether the “penumbral” right to abortion recognized in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and partially reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), should be overruled?

Docket Entries

2021-10-04
Petition DENIED. After this petition was filed, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit withdrew the panel opinion from which the petition sought certiorari. Accordingly, given the absence of any opinion for our review at this time, the petition is denied without prejudice to the filing of a new petition by either party following the Eighth Circuit’s final disposition of the case.
2021-09-01
Letter from counsel for petitioners dated August 31, 2021 filed.
2021-08-18
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
2021-08-09
Letter from counsel for respondents dated August 5, 2021 received. filed.
2021-07-07
Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Eric S. Schmitt, in his official capacity as Attorney General of Missouri, et al.
2021-06-30
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 2, 2021)

Attorneys

Eric S. Schmitt, in his official capacity as Attorney General of Missouri, et al.
D. John SauerOffice of the Attorney General, Petitioner
D. John SauerOffice of the Attorney General, Petitioner
Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, et al.
Claudia Lesley HammermanPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Respondent
Claudia Lesley HammermanPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Respondent