Courtroom victories should turn ideologies into improved government services, said Stephanie Toti, attorney for Whole Woman’s Health, at a talk on Tuesday.

Toti advocates for reproductive rights through constitutional litigation in The Center for Reproductive Rights and argued before the Supreme Court in Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt, resulting in a 5-3 decision in June which struck down restrictions on Texas abortion clinics. UT Law Career Services and The William Wayne Justice Center featured Toti in their “Lives in the Law” series, which was co-sponsored by the UT American Constitution Society chapter and If/When/How, a national reproductive justice organization.

“Going forward, we have made great progress in achieving the recognition of the fundamental rights to access contraceptives, abortion and for women to be in control of their reproductive lives,” Toti said. “In the future, we need to focus on ensuring that courtroom victories aren’t only about abstract principles. They need to be translated into improved access to healthcare services in the real world.”

Whole Woman’s Health is a group of clinics that provides reproductive health care to women. Government freshman Jensen Soderlund said Whole Woman’s Health helps erase stigma surrounding abortion and promote education about reproductive health.

Toti said House Bill 2, the Texas law that restricted abortion clinics until it was overturned last summer, impacted certain groups more negatively than others.

“We need to focus on eliminating the socioeconomic disparities and making sure that everyone is able to share benefits of advances,” Toti said. “I would hope that people afford others the same respect that they would want for themselves.”

Third-year law student Briana Perez said the Whole Woman’s Health case brings up problems of disproportionality and doesn’t give the option of abortion to some women.

“No abortion clinic was left open in the Valley so there’s a huge Latino population without the option,” Perez said.  “Whole Woman’s Health is a good example of the disproportionate impact of ongoing reproductive rights on Latino women. It made requirements for abortions so high it forced abortion clinics to close and the few that had funding to stay open were only in major cities.”

Rosann Mariappuram, law student and president of UT’s If/When/How chapter, said it is important to focus on the state level because abortion access changes so much from state to state.

“The focus really needs to be what state laws are occurring, what’s happening at the Capitol, what the governor and departments like the Health and Human Services Department are doing,” Mariappuram said.