Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has vowed to continue to defend the state’s remaining medical regulations governing abortion services in the wake of the June 30 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Louisiana’s Act 620.
“I will continue to defend Louisiana’s important medical regulations, along with Solicitor General Liz Murrill, in several cases still in litigation,” Landry told the Louisiana Record in an email. “I will not waver in my defense of the laws passed by our duly elected Legislature, and I will continue to do all I legally can to protect Louisiana’s women and girls.”
The high court overturned the Louisiana statute that restricts physicians from performing abortions unless they have admitting provileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion services site. The state law, which is similar to a Texas law that was previously overturned by the Supreme Court, is unconstitutional, would overly burden women’s access to abortion services and would not enhance patient safety, the 5-to-4 decision by Justice Stephen Breyer said.
In a prepared statement, Landry singled out Chief Justice John Roberts’ vote with the court majority as reflecting a pattern of inconsistent decisions lacking in merit.
“By putting precedent over patients, Justice Roberts gave his vote to a decision that ignored the overwhelming bipartisan support of Act 620 and the extensive record of Louisiana abortion providers’ history of medical malpractice, disciplinary actions, and violations of health and safety standards,” he said.
And Landry termed the court’s most recent abortion decision an example of judge-made law.
“It is this egregiously wrong practice that maintained decisions like Plessy, Dred Scott and Korematsu for so long,” he said. “And it reveals how far removed the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence has become from the rules that apply to all other litigants. We are past due for a course correction.”
In defending Act 620, the state has provided proof that Louisiana abortion providers operated in dangerous conditions and provided substandard patient care, Landry said.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, also an abortion opponent, took a more measured tone in his response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
“Throughout my career and life as a pro-life Catholic, I have advocated for the protection, dignity and sanctity of life and will continue to do so," Edwards said in a prepared statement. “While I voted for the law in question and am disappointed, I respect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision and trust that Louisiana and our nation will continue to move forward.”
The federal justices found that the Louisiana law’s requirement for admitting privileges did not significantly add to the vetting procedures already provided by the state Board of Medical examiners.