With arguments in the biggest abortion rights case to go before the Supreme Court in decades scheduled for March 2, both The Washington Post and The New York Times coverage featured David S. Cohen’s insights.  

The court will hear arguments concerning a Texas law that imposes stringent requirements on doctors and facilities that provide abortions and could close all but 10 of the clinics that now operate in the state.

“Justice Kennedy’s the only path to victory for the clinics,” Cohen said, in a Feb. 29 article appearing in the Post, referring to Justice Anthony Kennedy, a swing vote who joined the majority in 1992 in blocking a Pennsylvania law requiring pregnant women to notify their husbands before seeking abortions. “The key is going to be whether Kennedy thinks (the restriction imposed in Texas) is broader than any restriction he’s seen.”

In all other instances, Cohen noted in the New York Times, Kennedy has allowed restrictions on abortions to take effect.

Citing a friend of the court brief Cohen filed supporting the Texas clinics on behalf of 10 abortion providers in Pennsylvania, the Times article focuses on supporting briefs filed by more than 100 women who hope their own narratives of unwanted pregnancies will move Kennedy.

“One man’s perception of abortion is what matters most here,” Cohen said.