By Nigel Boys
After the state of Louisiana passed laws requiring doctor’s who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital that is within 30 miles of their clinic, several physicians objected on the grounds that they weren’t given enough time to comply.
Representing the doctors in court, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) persuaded U.S. District Judge John DeGravelles to forbid the state from enforcing these laws until he had time to review the cases set before him.
However, there is now confusion amongst lawyers whether DeGravelles ruling applies to all five of the state’s termination facilities or just the three who were represented in court.
Believing that all 5 facilities will be safe for the time being is Nancy Northup, president and CEO of CRR. However, Kyle Duncan, representative for Kathy Kliebert, Louisiana’s Health and Hospitals Secretary, believes that the clinics in New Orleans and Baton Rouge are not covered by the stay.
The confusion began when DeGravelles ordered that the state could not enforce their new laws until he had a chance to hear the whole argument of the case, but the law could go into effect without penalties for those doctors who had applied for admitting rights.
DeGravelles wrote that “For now, the doctors’ risk of $4,000 fines and losing their licenses outweighs any possible injury to the state from keeping the status quo.” He continued that “Louisiana’s health secretary has said she doesn’t plan to enforce the law for any doctors who don’t yet have a final decision on their hospital applications.”
The judge further wrote that prosecutions of doctors after his decision could not be ruled out because neither Kliebert nor the head of the Board of Medical Examiners said that they would never prosecute.
According to Duncan, the state had never planned to immediately start prosecuting doctors for not having admittance rights in hospitals and Secretary Kliebert had never said that they would.
DeGravelles continued to state that he believed that all of the clinics in Louisiana would not be shut down if the law was enforced because not all doctors’ applications had been considered and the clinic’s lawyers had not proven their case. He added that he would check on the progress of the plaintiff’s applications in 30 days time and decide then whether or not to issue an order blocking the law until the case was resolved.
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