Supreme Court sets abortion showdown for election year

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments about a Louisiana abortion restriction on March 4, 2020, setting up a controversial decision on the issue during the election year.

The case, June Medical Services v. Gee, reexamines a ruling the Supreme Court issued in 2016 when it overturned a Texas law that required doctors who provide abortions to have admitting privileges to local hospitals. Despite the precedent set by the justices, Louisiana passed a similar law that was then upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which helped to necessitate the Supreme Court taking it up again.

But this time a different Supreme Court bench is set to weigh in on the issue. Since the 2016 decision, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have been confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. The Supreme Court announced Oct. 4 that it would be taking up the Louisiana challenge, and on Tuesday, set the date for oral arguments.

The Center for Reproductive Rights asked the Supreme Court to take up the case. The organization’s CEO, Nancy Northup, said in a statement that it would have “lasting consequences for abortion access across the country.”

Anti-abortion organizations and lawmakers who support obligating doctors to obtain admitting privileges at local hospitals say they are necessary to protect women’s health, but abortion rights advocates contend that they effectively shutter clinics, placing abortions out of reach and that they are not necessary.

Louisiana Solicitor General Liz Murrill said in a statement that the latest case was different from the Hellerstedt decision in “our facts, our evidence, and our generally applicable medical standards.”

“This bipartisan legislation is necessary because Louisiana abortion providers have a long documented history of medical malpractice, disciplinary actions, and violations of health and safety standards,” she said.

If the Louisiana law ultimately goes into effect, two of Louisiana’s three abortion clinics are expected to close because they would not be able to meet the doctor requirement.

During the 2016 case, justices ruled that the requirements for doctors, that they have admitting privileges to a local hospital, posed an “undue burden” on women seeking access to abortion. That standard was set in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which also decided that states could have some ability to regulate abortion.

Louisiana and several other states have passed even tighter restrictions on abortions known as “heartbeat bills” which ban abortions after roughly six weeks into a pregnancy. All of the laws have been blocked by the courts because they violate the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion across the United States until fetal viability, which is generally understood to be about 24 weeks of gestation.

The Louisiana abortion law before the Supreme Court doesn’t directly challenge Roe, but if the justices allow the law to take effect, other states that seek to restrict abortion are likely to pass similar laws, which would cause more clinics to close.

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