Supreme Court temporarily blocks Louisiana abortion clinic law
The Supreme Court is temporarily keeping a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics on hold. Justice Samuel Alito said in a brief order Friday that the justices need more time to review arguments for and against the law, which requires doctors at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
The law, originally enacted in 2014, was set to take effect Monday, though clinics have asked the high court to block its enforcement.
The clinics say at least one and maybe two of Louisiana's three abortion clinics would have to close if the law is allowed to take effect.
A judge in the federal district court in Louisiana struck down the law in 2017, but it was upheld by a federal appeals court in September. The appeals court said it's not clear that any clinic would close.
The Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Texas in 2016, with Justice Anthony Kennedy as the deciding vote in the 5-3 decision. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative jurist whom many Republicans hope will help shift the court to the right, has since replaced Kennedy.