Baptist Press
WASHINGTON — Pro-life leaders expressed deep disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal 29 to uphold a Louisiana law designed to protect the lives and health of women by requiring hospital admitting privileges for doctors who perform abortions.
In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled the law — which mandated a physician must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a facility where he or she performs an abortion — violated the U.S. Constitution by imposing an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to the procedure. The justices found the Louisiana measure was nearly identical to a Texas admitting privileges law they struck down in 2016.
Pro-life advocates had been hopeful the Supreme Court’s willingness to rule on the Louisiana law signaled it was already prepared to revise the legal standard it used when it invalidated the Texas requirement four years ago.
Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore described the ruling as “disappointing and wrong-headed.”
