1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Court Revisits Abortion and Hospital Admitting-Privileges Requirement March 2, 2020 On March 4, 2020, the Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments in June Medical Services LLC v. Russo, a case involving a
2、Louisiana law requiring physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles of the location where the procedure is performed. Under the law, abortion facilities that employ or contract with physicians who do not have such privileges are subject to having t
3、heir licenses revoked by the state Department of Health and Hospitals. In September 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the law, distinguishing a 2016 Supreme Court decisionWhole Womans Health v. Hellerstedtthat had invalidated a nearly identical Texas law on the grounds tha
4、t it unconstitutionally imposed an undue burden on a womans ability to obtain an abortion. In so doing, the Fifth Circuit emphasized that admitting privileges are easier to obtain in Louisiana and that only one of the states six physicians who perform abortions might be unable to obtain admitting pr
