BATON ROUGE, LA – Late Wednesday, a Shreveport abortion
clinic and several abortionists voluntarily dismissed their legal challenge to
Louisiana’s abortion clinic licensing system.
In 2016, June Medical Services (d/b/a as “Hope” Medical Group
for Women) filed a legal challenge seeking to invalidate nearly every one of
Louisiana’s health and safety requirements relating to abortion – including
those to ensure informed consent, provide for the reporting of accurate data on
abortion complications, require compliance with the sanitary code, and require
abortion clinic medical staff to meet basic qualifications for
competency.
The clinic and providers sought to invalidate the entirety of
the State’s safety regulations using a self-created legal theory they referred
to as a “cumulative effects” challenge. The lawsuit by June Medical suffered a
serious setback last year when a panel of justices from the U.S. Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals called in to question both their standing to bring the
challenge, as well as their “cumulative effects” theory.
Upon receiving news of the dismissal, Louisiana Attorney General
Landry issued the following statement:
“Today’s news is a victory for Louisiana
women, and I congratulate Solicitor Liz Murrill and her team for yet another
win in our efforts to protect Louisiana women and girls from unsafe conditions
in abortion clinics. But our fight is not over; Louisiana’s incompetent and
unsafe abortion providers should not be permitted to challenge the health and
safety standards that our duly-elected Legislature enacts in order to protect
women from these very same providers. In June Medical v. Russo earlier
this year, the Supreme Court made it very clear that such broadside attacks on
the states’ ability to regulate abortion, ensure informed consent, and require
basic sanitary conditions be met will fail. My office and I will not waver
in defense of our State's pro-woman and pro-life laws; and we will continue to
do all we legally can to protect Louisiana women.”
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The dismissed case is
captioned June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo, No. 3:17-cv-404-BAJ (M.D.
La.).