U.S. Supreme Court blocks Louisiana Abortion Law
Friday, February 8, 2019 at 4:33PM
Donna Bader

In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to block a controversial law in Louisiana - pending further review - that would have required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of the abortion clinic.  The emergemcy appeal filed by Hope Medical Group for Women argued the law, if implemented, would leave Louisiana women with a single doctor who would be able to perform abortions.  Chief Justice Roberts acted as the swing vote, siding with the liberal justices.  This is significant for two reasons:  Justice Roberts is becoming the swing vote on the Court, a position occupied by former Justice Kennedy, and is apparently attempting to keep the Court from going too far to the right, possibly to avoid criticism of partisan politics.  The two Trump appointees, Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, voted with the conservative minority.  The second aspect of the decision was that the Court was faced with a nearly identical law in Texas and in a 5-3 vote in 2016 voted to block the law from taking effect.  At that time, Justice Roberts sided with the conservatives.  Justice Kavanaugh wrote a dissenting opinion, argued the decision was premature because the State indicated it would allow physicians up to 45 days to obtain admitting privileges. Is it possible that Chief Justice Roberts is shifting his opinion on abortion?  We all know Roe v. Wade is under attack and this one ruling is not going to make me feel comfortable that liberals are going to prevail on the next attack.  It will be a fight all the way. 

Article originally appeared on AN APPEAL TO REASON (http://www.anappealtoreason.com/).
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