WASHINGTON, DC – Today, in a narrow 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court
blocked Louisiana’s admitting privileges law. In response, Louisiana Attorney
General Jeff Landry issued the following statement:
“Today, the Supreme Court continued its heartbreaking
line of decisions that places ‘access’ to abortion above the health and safety
of women and girls.
By putting precedent over patients, Justice Roberts gave
his vote to a decision that ignored the overwhelming bipartisan support of Act
620 and the extensive record of Louisiana abortion providers’ history of
medical malpractice, disciplinary actions, and violations of health and safety
standards.
It is deeply disappointing that the Chief Justice
continues a pattern of inconsistent and groundless decisions. In his misguided
effort to convince the public that the Supreme Court is not political, Justice
Roberts shows how political it actually is. Just four years ago, he joined the
dissenters in Hellerstedt, which struck down Texas’s law; today, the
Chief Justice openly acknowledges that case was wrong but then applies it
anyway. He picks and choses from a stare decisis “buffet” to avoid admitting
his Court is fallible. This is not justice – this is judge-made law at its
worst.
Continuing to perpetuate judge-made rules that have no
constitutional basis is bad for our country. It is this egregiously wrong
practice that maintained decisions like Plessy, Dred Scott, and Korematsu
for so long. And it reveals how far removed the Supreme Court’s abortion
jurisprudence has become from the rules that apply to all other litigants. We
are past due for a course correction.
When laws are passed with nearly unanimous bipartisan
support by the elected representatives of a state and with undisputed proof of
dangerous conditions and substandard abortion providers, but they cannot
survive judicial review – something is drastically wrong with the Court’s case
law on this subject.
I will continue to pray for all women and girls who will
be exposed to the incompetent abortionists that put profits over people; and I
will keep doing all that I legally can to protect the unborn, their mothers,
and all Louisiana women.”
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Act 620 attempted to align abortion providers with other
professional and regulatory licensing laws in Louisiana. The law required
abortion providers be able to admit patients to a nearby hospital in the event
of complications. It passed the Louisiana Legislature in 2014 by an 88-5 vote
in the House of Representatives and a 34-3 vote in the Senate. Act 620 was
previously upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.