League Joins Amicus in June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee

The League joined the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and a dozen other prominent civil rights organizations on an amicus brief in June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee which is pending in the United States Supreme Court. The brief urges the Court to strike down Louisiana’s anti-abortion law, Act 620 which requires physicians who provide abortions to obtain admitting privileges at local hospitals. Under this law, only a single physician could provide abortion care in the state, and all but one abortion clinic in Louisiana would close. In its brief, amici urged the Supreme Court to center the real-world circumstances of Black women when analyzing whether Act 620 creates an undue burden in accessing abortion. Amici also expressed grave concern that Act 620 will result in a two-tiered system in Louisiana, where wealthier, disproportionately white women will have greater access to their constitutional right to abortion care than Black women who are disproportionately low-income.  Finally, amici warned that upholding similar laws in other states would cause great harm to women of color across the country and further entrench long-standing systemic and structural barriers to economic opportunity.