The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that a 2014 Louisiana law designed to shutter abortion clinics can now be implemented. The law—Act 620—requires physicians who perform abortions at clinics to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within a 30-mile radius. Implementation of the law had been stayed by a U.S. district court on the grounds that it placed an undue burden on women who wanted to terminate their pregnancies. The Fifth Circuit’s ruling lifted that stay.
Foes of the law say the admitting privileges are medically unnecessary and are not imposed on out-patient clinics performing procedures that have more risks of complications than abortions have. If the law is implemented, three of Louisiana’s four abortion clinics will have to close their doors. Jessica Mason Pielko writes:
Attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) sued in August 2014, arguing the act was impossible to comply with and unduly burdened abortion rights. A federal court issued a temporary restraining order that month, allowing the provision to take effect but blocking enforcement of the law while doctors tried to meet the requirement.
The federal court in June 2015 held a six-day trial and in January of this year ruled the law should be blocked. Louisiana immediately appealed, asking the court to stay its decision blocking the law while that appeal proceeded. The court denied the request. Louisiana appealed that denial to the Fifth Circuit, which agreed Wednesday to overturn the lower court and allow the admitting privileges law to go into effect.
The CCR plans to appeal for a stay on implementing Act 620 at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Louisiana law is similar to a Texas law over which arguments will be heard on the merits by the Supreme Court next week. Lawyers for CCR will be handling the arguments on the Texas law, too.