Simopoulos v. Virginia (462 U.S. 506)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 15, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 462 U.S. 506 · 103 S. Ct. 2532
- Decided
- June 15, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Powell
- Issue area
- Privacy
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Powell delivered the opinion of the Court. We have considered today mandatory hospitalization requirements for second-trimester abortions in City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Inc., ante, p. 416, and Planned Parenthood Assn. of Kansas City, Mo., Inc. v. Ashcroft, ante, p. 476. The principal issue here is whether Virginia’s mandatory hospitalization requirement is constitutional. I Appellant is a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In November 1979, he practiced at his office in Woodbridge, Va., at four local hospitals, and at his clinic in Falls Church, Va. The Falls Church clinic has an operating room and facilities for resuscitation and emergency treatment of cardiac/ respiratory arrest. Replacement and stabilization fluids are on hand. Appellant customarily performs first-trimester abortions at his clinic. During the time relevant to this case, the clinic was not licensed, nor had appellant sought any license for it. P. M. was a 17-year-old high school student when she went to appellant’s clinic on November 8, 1979. She was unmarried, and told appellant that she was approximately 22 weeks pregnant. She requested an abortion but did not want her parents to know. Examination by appellant confirmed that P. M. was five months pregnant, well into the second trimester. Appellant testified…
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