Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana law in major win for abortion rights
The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that restricted abortions in the state, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the liberal justices in the ruling.
The case of June Medical Services v. Russo questioned Louisiana’s requirement that doctors who perform abortions must have admitting privileges at a local hospital. A federal court found that the law would leave one abortion provider in the state.
The Supreme Court struck down a similar Texas law in 2016, leaving some to worry that the court was taking up the issue again with a more conservative majority.
Writing for the four liberal justices, Stephen Breyer said the court agreed with a lower court decision “that Louisiana’s law poses a ‘substantial obstacle’ to women seeking an abortion; its determination that the law offers no significant health-related benefits; and its determination that the law consequently imposes an ‘undue burden’ on a woman’s constitutional right to choose to have an abortion.”
Breyer’s opinion said Louisiana’s law on abortions violated the constitution.
Chief Justice John Roberts, in a concurring opinion, said, “The result in this case is controlled by our decision four years ago invalidating a nearly identical Texas law. The Louisiana law burdens women seeking previability abortions to the same extent as the Texas law.”
“For that reason, I concur in the judgment of the Court that the Louisiana law is unconstitutional,” Roberts said in his opinion.
This is the first time the current court, which has a majority of justices with judicial records of ruling against abortion rights, has heard an abortion-related case, NPR reports.
Four conservative justices on the court each gave their own dissenting opinions on the case, and all agreed that they thought the abortion services provider did not have the right to sue in this case.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in his dissent, argued, “As is often the case with legal challenges to abortion regulations, this suit was brought by abortionists and abortion clinics. Their sole claim before this Court is that Louisiana’s law violates the purported substantive due process right of a woman to abort her unborn child.“
Thomas argued the provider did not have jurisdiction: “They concede that this right does not belong to them, and they seek to vindicate no private rights of their own.”
Attorneys for Louisiana questioned whether abortion providers can even sue the state over the law, according to ABC News. The concept of “third party standing” would allow doctors to sue on behalf of those whose rights are impacted — in this case, their patients.
Attorneys for June Medical Services argued that the law regulates doctors, not their patients, so the doctors do have the right to sue over the law, ABC News reports.
During his 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump said he would nominate judges that would overturn the landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed women’s access to abortion.
Louisiana passed its Unsafe Abortion Protection Act in 2014, but it’s been blocked from being enforced since it was enacted, CNN reports.
A federal district judge struck down the Louisiana law, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling and said the law could go into effect, according to NPR.
A 5-4 decision from the Supreme Court in February 2019 blocked the law temporarily as the justices considered the case.
The ruling is the third major decision to come out of the Supreme Court in the past two weeks on hot-button social issues. The court ruled last week that employers could not fire someone because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The court also stopped the Trump administration from ending the DACA program, which gives legal status to immigrants brought to the United States as children. That ruling has been seen as a blow to the president who promised to end DACA in his 2016 campaign.
In a statement, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called Monday’s ruling “unfortunate.”
“The Supreme Court devalued both the health of mothers and the lives of unborn children by gutting Louisiana’s policy that required all abortion procedures be performed by individuals with admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. States have legitimate interests in regulating any medical procedure — including abortions — to protect patient safety,” the White House said.
“Instead of valuing fundamental democratic principles, unelected Justices have intruded on the sovereign prerogatives of State governments by imposing their own policy preference in favor of abortion to override legitimate abortion safety regulations,” the statement said.
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 10:18 AM with the headline "Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana law in major win for abortion rights."
