Attorney General Daniel Cameron joined 20 states in filing an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in June Medical Services, LLC v. Dr. Rebekah Gee.
Cameron
The case centers on a Louisiana law that requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital in the event of an emergency or complication resulting from the procedure.
The challenge to this health and safety-based regulation is brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of a Louisiana abortion clinic and two abortion doctors. In the amicus brief, Attorney General Cameron joins other states in arguing that it is imperative for states to make and enforce the laws and regulations regarding health and safety that govern abortion procedures.
The brief also argues that abortion doctors and abortion facilities do not have standing to bring a lawsuit on behalf of patients.
This is an especially important issue because most abortion litigation is brought not by women, but by abortion doctors and clinics. The brief points out that the interests of doctors and facilities do not align with patients because doctors and facilities often focus on minimizing compliance costs, whereas patients are concerned primarily with their safety and well-being.
“We cannot allow the self-interested motives of abortion providers and facilities to dictate the circumstances under which abortion procedures are performed,” said Cameron. “If Louisiana’s commonsense law is overturned, it will set a dangerous precedent that allows the very industry that profits from abortions to now regulate abortions and determine what is safe for pregnant women.”
The brief asserts that abortion-related cases “have become vehicles by which abortion practitioners and facilities attack health-and-safety regulations designed to protect women—the same women whose rights the practitioners claim to invoke—from the practitioners themselves.”
The Supreme Court will hear the June Medical Services case in March. Attorneys General from Arkansas, Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia joined General Cameron in signing the brief.
A copy of the brief is available here.
Office of the Attorney General
