Colorado Politics

GOP reps. join congressional Supreme Court brief on abortion case

Colorado’s three Republican congressmen joined a brief filed on Thursday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a Louisiana law potentially restricting access to abortion.

Claiming the plaintiff has a “long history of health and safety violations,” the members of Congress wrote that “there is an inherent conflict of interest between abortion providers and their patients regarding state health and safety regulations.”

They also argued that the plaintiff, a Shreveport abortion clinic, and all such providers lack the “close” relationship with patients necessary to bring a lawsuit on behalf of those women’s rights. Therefore, June Medical Services lacks standing to sue.

The case centers around whether Louisiana can require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, two years after the Supreme Court struck down a similar Texas law in 2016.

Among the 168 members of the House of Representatives signing on were U.S. Reps. Scott Tipton, Ken Buck, and Doug Lamborn. U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner was not among the 39 senators. In December, most of Colorado’s congressional Democrats signed a brief asking the Court to strike down Louisiana’s law.

In addition to citing nearly two decades worth of health and safety violations in the state’s abortion clinics, the GOP members also singled out doctors by name, including those who had been involved in deliveries that resulted in the death of the child.

The brief argues that hospitals do a more thorough background check than do clinics, and so requiring admitting privileges “promotes the wellbeing of women seeking abortion.” It added that no clinics would close “as a direct result” of the law.

The case is June Medical Services LLC v. Gee, which the Court is scheduled to hear on Mar. 20.

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