The Story: In two rulings released this week, the Supreme Court signaled a pattern of preventing restrictions on both religious liberty and also abortion. The Background: The court issued rulings this week on important cases involving restrictions on abortion and on religious liberty. The abortion case was June Medical Services LLC v. Russo . In 2014, Louisiana passed a law—Act 620—requiring doctors who perform abortions in the state to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Currently, four abortionists work at the three abortion clinics in Louisiana. Because only one of the physicians has admitting privileges, the law would prohibit the other three from performing abortions unless they meet the requirement. Opponents of the law claimed it violated the precedent set in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that the states cannot put “unnecessary health regulations that have the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion impose an undue burden on the right.” The court had previously struck down a similar Texas law about admitting privileges in the 2016 case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt , claiming the restriction provided no health benefits for women seeking abortions. In a 5-4 ruling released on Monday, […]

Tags: