Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion restrictions
A Louisiana abortion law has just been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
In a 5-4 decision on Monday, the court struck down a restrictive Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have "active admitting privileges" at a hospital within 30 miles, NBC News reports. The law was passed in 2014, and the court noted it was similar to a Texas law it previously struck down in 2016. The restrictions under Louisiana's law could have resulted in the state having just one abortion clinic, The New York Times notes.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberal majority, saying that although he joined the dissent for the case of the Texas law, "the Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons," per The Washington Post. "Therefore Louisiana's law cannot stand under our precedents."
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