NEW ORLEANS -- A federal appeals court ruled against abortion clinics Wednesday by allowing a Louisiana law to take effect that requires doctors who provide abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a federal judge's ruling that had found the admitting-privileges requirement unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge John deGravelles in Baton Rouge last month barred Louisiana officials from enforcing the mandate. DeGravelles has not yet ruled on the state's abortion law itself, though he heard arguments about it in June.
Supporters say the law's provision requiring admitting privileges at hospitals is meant to protect women's health. Opponents say it's meant to make it essentially impossible for women to get abortions.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents three clinics and their doctors, said it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the appellate court's ruling. The center said the ruling threatens to close three of Louisiana's four abortion clinics.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to take up a similar Texas law Wednesday.
The three-judge appellate panel disputed whether clinics would be forced to close.
The appellate panel's opinion, written by U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, disputed deGravelles' claims that the law "deprives 99% of Louisiana women of access to an abortion."
"Louisiana is likely to succeed in showing that these calculations are neither sufficient nor sufficiently reliable for Plaintiffs to establish an undue burden on a large fraction of Louisiana women," Elrod wrote.
A Section on 02/25/2016