Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court's more liberal justices to continue blocking implementation of the law. | Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Health Care Supreme Court blocks restrictive Louisiana abortion law

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday night to block for now a Louisiana law that abortion rights groups say would leave the state with only one abortion provider. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court's more liberal justices to extend the stay preventing implementation of the law.

With the decision, the new conservative high court is keeping the country's abortion rights precedent unchanged —for now — keeping in line with its decision in 2016 to strike down a similar law in Texas. But the stay is still temporary, lasting only until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case on the merits. At the earliest, that would happen in the fall of 2019.


Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the decision to grant the stay. Only Kavanaugh wrote an explanation of his decision to break with the court's majority, saying Louisiana's abortion providers are premature in bringing a challenge before the law takes effect based on "predictions" about its impact. The Louisiana law would have required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles.

Providers represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights had argued that the statute would have caused irreparable harm to Louisiana residents by letting just one of the state’s remaining three abortion clinics stay open. They had asked the court to impose a longer injunction to allow justices to weigh the merits of their challenge, and celebrated the decision in their favor Thursday night.

"The Supreme Court has stepped in under the wire to protect the rights of Louisiana women,” said Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “The three clinics left in Louisiana can stay open while we ask the Supreme Court to hear our case."

The Supreme Court previously issued a temporary stay on Feb. 1 to give the justices more time to weigh the challenge from abortion rights forces, who argue the 2014 law is unconstitutionally restrictive. The law was to have taken effect Monday of this week.

Louisiana's law is nearly identical to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016, with a 5-3 majority ruling it posed an undue burden on a woman's right to access abortion. The court also noted then that such a restriction offers few, if any, health benefits for women, because abortion-related complications that require hospitalization are extremely rare. And a patient can be admitted to a hospital in an emergency, regardless of whether her doctor is affiliated there.

The state argued that an emergency stay was unnecessary since the law would be implemented gradually and not close any clinic immediately.

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The earliest the Supreme Court could hear arguments on the law's merits would be in October, though the case could be pushed into 2020. Abortion providers say the lengthy wait would have devastated abortion access in the state, even if the Supreme Court eventually overturned the Louisiana law.

"Clinics forced to close for a year or more don't have the financial wherewithal to spring back into business if the Supreme Court says the law is unconstitutional.“ said Travis Tu, the lead attorney on the case for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “By then, many doctors will have gotten other jobs or moved out of state."

The law took effect briefly in 2016 amid lower court challenges. During that window, most of the state's few abortion clinics suspended all appointments and referred patients to a single facility.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in September upheld the Louisiana law in a 2-1 decision, finding the circumstances were "remarkably different" than those in the Texas case. The entire appellate court in January refused to reconsider the case, prompting abortion providers to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The confirmations of Kavanaugh and Gorsuch since the Texas case was decided shifted the court further to the right, raising the possibility of the justices revisiting the admitting privileges law and other abortion rights questions.

