Whoo-hoo! Even with a reduced-sized court (or maybe because of it!):

“We have found nothing in Texas’ record evidence that shows that, compared to prior law … the new law advanced Texas’ legitimate interest in protecting women’s health,” the opinion read. “We add that, when directly asked at oral argument whether Texas knew of a single instance in which the new requirement would have helped even one woman obtain better treatment, Texas admitted that there was no evidence in the record of such a case.”

Supreme court strikes down strict Texas abortion law aimed at closing clinics

The US supreme court on Monday struck down one of the harshest abortion restrictions in the country and potentially paved the way to overturn dozens of measures in other states that curtail access, in what might be the most significant legal victory for reproductive rights advocates since the right to abortion was established in 1973.

The 5-3 ruling will immediately prevent Texas from enforcing a law that would have closed all but nine abortion clinics. But in a coup for abortion rights supporters, the court also in effect barred lawmakers from passing health measures backed by dubious medical evidence as a way of forcing large numbers of abortion clinics to close.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the opinion for the majority and was joined by justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, andAnthony Kennedy, whose support was key to determining if the liberal or conservative bloc of the court would prevail.

“We conclude that neither of these provisions offers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes,” Breyer’s opinion read. “Each places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access … and each violates the Federal Constitution.”

and

In March, researchers with the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas-Austin found that with parts of HB 2 in effect, the average number of miles that many women traveled to get an abortion nearly quadrupled.

If Whole Woman’s Health had lost and the law had gone into effect, abortion access would have been restricted entirely to the large metropolitan centers of Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. There wouldn’t have been a single clinic for 500 miles between San Antonio and the border with New Mexico.

If anyone would like to read HB2, here's the link to the whole history of the bill. Here's the link to the record the day it was passed.

This is an original article from the Texas Tribune when HB2 passed the Texas Assembly:
House Approves Abortion Restrictions:

The House voted 96-49 on Wednesday to give final approval to proposed abortion regulations in Texas. House Bill 2, which would ban abortion at 20 weeks and enact some of the strictest regulations in the country on abortion providers and facilities, now heads to the Senate.

“If we’re going to ask for more children to come into this world, we should provide for them,” said state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio. She offered an amendment, which lawmakers tabled, that would have extended state benefits to children put into the foster care and adoption system by women who could not access abortion as a result of the legislation. She added, “We know there are going to be lots of cases where the mothers just cannot, even though they may want to, they cannot take care of them.”

The bill’s author, state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker, said the amendment falsely assumed that abortion services would not be available. "It goes under the assumption that if a child is born in need that there are no services available, and that is also not the case,” she said.

snip

During the final vote, a woman screamed from the gallery that she objected to the proceedings. She refused to quiet or leave, and state troopers carried her out of the gallery by her hands and feet.

New York Times article about a week after the Texas Tribune article above:
Abortion Restrictions Become Law in Texas, but Opponents Will Press Fight

MIDLAND, Tex. — Six months after declaring his goal to make abortion at any stage “a thing of the past,” Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill into law Thursday giving Texas some of the toughest restrictions on abortion in the country, even as women’s rights advocates vowed to challenge the law’s legality in court.

Surrounded by Republican legislators and abortion opponents in an auditorium at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Mr. Perry said they were celebrating and cementing “the foundation on which the culture of life in Texas is built upon.” As he spoke, the chants and shouts of “Shame! Shame!” by the bill’s opponents, gathered outside the auditorium, could be heard. (see video - difficult to discern)

Snip

Abortion rights advocates and Democrats said the law could force a majority of the state’s 42 abortion clinics to close. The new provision that clinics be licensed as ambulatory surgery centers would require costly renovations or relocations to meet the architectural and equipment standards.

Only five abortion clinics — in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston — meet those standards. The requirement that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals could force the closing of some clinics that use visiting doctors or that are located where local hospitals refuse to provide such privileges.

One little thrill I had this year was briefly meeting Wendy Davis on election day. She was no bigger than a minute, as they say around these parts. I asked her if her tennis shoes are in the Bullock Texas State History Museum - she says she still has them.