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Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Louisiana Abortion Law
| Wall Street Journal | - |
WASHINGTON—The
Supreme Court blocked a Louisiana abortion regulation Friday,
temporarily stopping the state from requiring doctors to hold admitting
privileges at local hospitals while litigation over the issue continues.
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Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Louisiana Abortion Law
Court halts requirement that doctors hold admitting privileges at nearby hospitals
ENLARGE
The Supreme Court blocked a Louisiana abortion regulation Friday.
Photo:
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The unsigned order came two days after the court heard arguments over a similar measure in Texas, which abortion providers say would force them to shut down.
Only Justice Clarence Thomas indicated he would have allowed the Louisiana law to take effect.
The Louisiana and Texas laws have been on similar trajectories.
The high court said it was granting the Louisiana stay “consistent with the court’s action” in the Texas litigation. The Supreme Court last summer prevented parts of the Texas law from going into effect while that case continued, so Friday’s move may have been made to maintain the status quo until the court announces the Texas ruling.
Both laws were blocked by federal judges who found they were a “substantial obstacle” for women seeking abortions. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which oversees Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, overrode those decisions, prompting abortion providers to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The high court’s action on the Louisiana is similar to what it did last summer in preventing parts of the Texas law from going into effect while litigation continued, so Friday’s move may have been made to maintain the status quo until the court announces the Texas ruling.
But it also could be a sign on how the Texas case might turn out.
The justices met privately Friday, and they were believed to have discussed both cases and taken a preliminary vote on the outcome in Texas. At least five votes are required to halt a lower court order or decide a case. For Texas to have won its case while a similar Louisiana regulation was blocked would require at least one justice who voted to uphold the Texas law to also vote to temporarily halt the Louisiana law.
The court’s decisions aren’t final until published, however; so even if Texas lost the preliminary vote, the outcome could be different when the opinion is released, most likely in late June.
“We disagree with the court’s unexplained decision and are disappointed,” Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said. “We remain confident that we will prevail on the merits.”
“Just two days after arguing our case before the Supreme Court to strike down a similar sweeping law in Texas, we look to the justices to put an end to these sham measures,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents abortion providers in both the Texas and Louisiana cases.
The Louisiana suit is one of several involving antiabortion forces seeking additional regulations on clinics and doctors performing the procedure, saying the regulations protect women’s health. Abortion-rights activists claim the measures are a pretext to make abortion more difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.
The Louisiana measure, requiring doctors to hold admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, was signed into law in June 2014.
Write to Jess Bravin at jess.bravin@wsj.com