going to the field of obstret you cans and gynecology. from 2021 to 2022, in texas, after the passage of sb-8, there was a 19% decrease in ob-gyn applicants in our state. this is important as we are the second biggest state and asthma dam vice president pointed out we have 50% of our counties without ob-gyns. that s because people are afraid. people don t understand the law, my own friends don t understand what the texas law is. basically what the texas law says, you can make that decision if it s a life threatening situation, but if we don t agree with you, we re coming after you. here s the thing.
a diversifying nation. on affirmative action, decades of transformative tools for underrepresented, specifically black kids seeking a higher education. the court left them to their own devices. on president biden s plan to apply a modest relief to suffering student borrowers, the court ruled that the administration had overstepped its bounds. and on lgbtq rights, the court insisted that the right to deny business on religious grounds can be protected as freedom of speech. president biden yesterday after days of responding to these judicial attacks on social progress, laid the blame for this week s decision at the feet of conservative lawmakers and the justices they nominated. let me be clear. republicans in congress, it s not about reducing the deficit.
dissenters noted in this decision, colleges and universities have the same interests in cultivating diverse leaders who are prepared to lead diverse workforce is. colleges and universities no less than the military academies have programs that sent individuals onto leadership or officer training programs in the military. and so if those needs are so acute in the military academy context, they would also be acute in the college and university context. for those reasons as well. and the majority didn t have anything to say to respond to those claims. not a president biden it was blocked by yesterday s high court decision. again, a 6 to 3 ruling with every conservative justice voting against it. biden in response, yesterday, announced several measures to work around the impediment. enabling the secretary of education to compromise, wade, or release loans under certain
this series of rulings? are they more energized, or demoralized, michael? that s an interesting question. when you first say that, i do agree with doug brandon in terms of this particular supreme court that acts like a as it relates to the election and black voters, it would be very easy for those people to feel despair as it relates to their engagement in politics and whether they should actually care. but i think this is a perfect opportunity for all of us to stand up and be more engaged, because elections matter. and if we re going to turn this court around, we all have to be engaged. it s gotta be a whole all hands on deck effort. and so our engagement in 2024 is needed now more than ever. that s how we got this court in the first place. some of us did not vote, and others did. but susan, the dobbs decision looms large in the 2022 midterms, and many analysts
the culminating watch on washington. among the decisions this week that i actually applauded, another 63 decision. but this one not split along ideological lines. ruling of that state legislators power to control congressional was still subject to state courts and constitutions. voiding of fringe legal theory that state legislatures had an independent role in regulating federal elections. as a federal lawmaker and an election cycle, what kind of danger was the country facing in this decision had it gone the other way? the independent state legislator theory was something that literally was an attack on our democracy. it would have uprooted our ability to have consistent federal elections, and well the court did uphold the law, they didn t do anything to expand