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VICTORY: Legal Challenge to Louisiana’s Pro-Life Laws Dropped

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.).