In October, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear a case, June Medical Services v. Gee, regarding a pro-life law in Louisiana that requires abortionists to have hospital admitting privileges at a nearby hospital for when patients require medical attention for abortion complications. The Supreme Court struck down a similar Texas law in 2016, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Louisiana law in 2018, saying it does not impose a substantial burden on women. Arguments in June Medical Services v. Gee won’t take place until winter, with a ruling on the case expected by the end of June.
This case will be a good indication of where Chief Justice John Roberts stands on abortion jurisprudence and could reveal how willing the more conservative justices recently appointed by President Trump, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, are to chip away at abortion rights. Americans United for Life attorney Rachel Morrison expressed confidence that “the justices will vote to uphold Louisiana’s common-sense safety measure that will protect Louisiana women from substandard abortion doctors.”
Louisiana’s attorney general noted, “In Louisiana, a woman who goes to any other healthcare clinic receiving any other procedure under which she’s bodily sedated, that doctor is required to have admitting privileges. So, why wouldn’t we require doctors at abortion clinics have the same?” [www.world.wng.org, 10/18/19, 10/4/19, 9/30/19; Family Research Council, 10/10/19]
