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The U. S. Supreme Court has handed another blow to backhanded attempts at abolishing abortion by making clinics comply with ridiculous and unnecessary regulations.
In a 5-4 decision released Monday, the court struck down a Louisiana law (Act 620) saying doctors who perform abortions must have “active admitting privileges at a hospital . located not further than thirty miles from the location at which the abortion is performed or induced.” If enforced, it would have left Louisiana with just one abortion clinic statewide.
In the consolidated cases before SCOTUS, “five abortion clinics and four abortion providers challenged Act 620 before it was to take effect, alleging that it was unconstitutional because (among other things) it imposed an undue burden on the right of their patients to obtain an abortion,” states the Court’s summary of the case.
Previously, a U. S. District Court had declared the admitting-privileges law unconstitutional, “finding, among other things, that the law offers no significant health benefit; that conditions on admitting privileges common to hospitals throughout the State have made and will continue to make it impossible for abortion providers to obtain conforming privileges for reasons that have nothing to do with the State’s asserted interests in promoting women’s health and safety; and that this inability places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking an abortion,” states the summary.
But the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reversed the district court’s ruling. The Supreme Court has now reversed the 5th Circuit’s decision.
Voting to strike down the law were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, with Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas dissenting.
