For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Gerard, sgerard@americanhumanist.org, 202-238-9088×105
(Washington, DC, June 29, 2020) –Today, American Humanist Association (AHA) leaders applaud the US Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision striking down a Louisiana law requiring abortion providers obtain overly burdensome admission privileges at nearby hospitals and whether abortion providers have the right to bring the challenge on behalf of their patients. The court found that Louisiana imposed an unconstitutional restriction on access to the abortion procedure.
“We can breathe a breath of fresh air knowing that access to abortion is less encumbered in Louisiana,” AHA Legal Director and Senior Counsel Monica Miller opined. “Louisiana’s Act 620, if allowed to stand, would have been a disturbing step toward rendering abortion rights all but meaningless. Thankfully the court recognized the undue burden that this law placed on individuals seeking reproductive health care and pointed out the obvious parallels to the Court’s ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt decided in 2016.”
In 2014, Louisiana passed a targeted restriction on abortion providers (TRAP) law which imposed an undue burden on women seeking reproductive health services. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit concluded that “no clinics will likely be forced to close” due to the TRAP law, and thus, the law would not impose an undue burden on women’s right to choose abortions. The Supreme Court, in its decision today, reversed this ruling from the Fifth Circuit.
AHA Executive Director Roy Speckhardt lauded: “Today’s ruling is good news for the autonomy of individuals seeking abortions and bad news for the religious right who have consistently tried to legislate behavior to conform with their narrow religious viewpoints.”
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The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
Special thanks to the Louis J. Appignani Foundation for their support of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center.