Louisiana clinics temporarily resume abortions after judge lifts state ban

Martha Sanchez, News Editor

Abortion rights protestors gathered in front of the federal 5th Circuit’s John Minor Wisdom U.S. Court of Appeals Building Saturday evening to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s strike down of the landmark Roe v. Wade case. (Courtesy of Julia Klar)

Louisiana’s three abortion clinics will resume services this week after a New Orleans judge temporarily blocked the state’s ban on the procedure on Monday. The clinics shuttered Friday after the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. 

Orleans Parish Civil District Judge Robin Giarrusso lifted the order after a lawsuit by the Hope Medical Group for Women and the Tulane University School of Medicine’s chapter of the nonprofit group Medical Students for Choice

Under Louisiana’s “trigger” laws, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling bans all surgical and medical abortions in the state unless the mother’s life is at risk. There is no exception for rape or incest. 

Monday’s lawsuit argues the state’s multiple bans are unclear and unconstitutional. The case’s first hearing is set for July 8. 

The clinics “plan to resume providing the procedures as soon as possible in the coming days,” Ellie Schilling, the lead lawyer in the lawsuit, said to nola.com

But the temporary block of the ban could end as soon as next week. 

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a defendant in the lawsuit, is a Republican and praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling. On Monday, he pledged to defend the state’s abortion ban. 

“We would remind everyone that the laws that are now in place were enacted by the people through State Constitutional Amendments and the LA Legislature, which the citizens elect representatives,” Landry tweeted. “We are fully prepared to defend these laws in our state courts, just as we have in our federal courts.”

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