The Supreme Court has ruled a 2014 Louisiana abortion law unconstitutional. It required abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital:
NBC NEWS – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Louisiana’s tough restriction on abortion violates the Constitution, a surprising victory for abortion rights advocates from an increasingly conservative court.
The ruling struck down a law passed by Louisiana’s legislature in 2014 that required any doctor offering abortion services to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. Its enforcement had been blocked by a protracted legal battle.
Two Louisiana doctors and a medical clinic sued to get the law overturned. They said it would leave only one doctor at a single clinic to provide services for nearly 10,000 women who seek abortions in the state each year.
The challengers said the requirement was identical to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016. With the vote of then-Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court ruled that Texas imposed an obstacle on women seeking access to abortion services without providing any medical benefits.
According to Bloomberg, it was John Roberts who again sided with the liberal activists on the court in the 5-4 ruling:
A divided U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that required abortion-clinic doctors to get privileges at a local hospital, defying expectations by reinforcing reproductive rights in a case that had threatened to begin a rollback, Bloomberg News reports.
Chief Justice John Roberts provided the crucial vote, joining the court’s liberal justices in the 5-4 majority. He said was bound by a 2016 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a similar Texas law, even though he was in dissent in that case.
John Roberts really loves his new role as the swing vote, far too often swinging to the wrong side on issues. This is just one more reason why it’s imperative that Trump is allowed to put another Supreme Court Justice on the high court.
Here is the ruling if you want to read it…