Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Abortion Law

TOPLINE

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana abortion law that required doctors performing the procedures to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, which critics argued did not help patients, and instead made obtaining the procedure more difficult.

KEY FACTS

Crucial quote

“THE CHIEF JUSTICE agreed that abortion providers in this case have standing to assert the constitutional rights of their patients and concluded that because Louisiana’s Act 620 imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the nearly identical Texas law invalidated four years ago…it cannot stand,” wrote the court in its opinion.

Chief critic

“With this win, the clinics in Louisiana can stay open to serve the one million women of reproductive age in the state. But the Court’s decision could embolden states to pass even more restrictive laws when clarity is needed if abortion rights are to be protected,” said Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northrup in an emailed statement to Forbes.

Key background

The Louisiana law was enacted in 2014, with supporters saying it protected women’s health, while detractors argued it constricted abortion access. A Louisiana federal judge struck the law down in 2017 on the grounds that it created an undue burden on a woman’s constitutional right to obtain the procedure, and cited its similarity to the 2016 Texas law struck down by the Supreme Court. In 2018, a New Orleans appeals court reversed the Louisiana federal judge’s decision, saying the benefits outweighed the burdens, but their decision was notwithstanding of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Texas law.

Tangent

Trump has not yet commented on the court’s Monday decision. He has stood with anti-abortion activists as recently as January, when he attended a March For Life rally in Washington, D.C. “Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House,” he told the crowd. Before his political career, Trump said in 1999 television interview that he was “pro-choice in every respect.”

Further reading

Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Abortion Restrictions (New York Times)

Federal Law Protects LGBT Workers From Discrimination, Supreme Court Says (Forbes)

Supreme Court Blocks Trump Administration From Ending DACA (Forbes)

How Trump became an abortion hard-liner (Washington Post)