Amicus Briefs

27 Amicus briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to Louisiana’s Act 620.

June Medical Services v. Russo (formerly June Medical Services v. Gee)

A collection of nearly 200 organizations and more than 700 individuals representing leading voices in medicine, law, public policy, and advocacy, along with people who have exercised their right to abortion speaking personally about the impact of abortion restrictions, have filed amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court voicing opposition to Louisiana’s Act 620, a law that would make it nearly impossible for Louisiana residents to obtain abortion care. The 27 “friend of the court” briefs represent a united front against medically unnecessary abortion restrictions that undermine the constitutional right to access abortion. Signers include major medical associations like the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 197 members of Congress, attorneys general from 21 states and the District of Columbia, reproductive justice advocates, civil rights organizations, social science experts, the American Bar Association, prominent legal scholars and former judges, abortion providers, faith leaders, and close to 380 individuals sharing stories of their personal abortion experiences.

The case, June Medical v. Russo, challenges a Louisiana law (Act 620) that would force every abortion clinic in the state to close except for one, leaving a single doctor able to provide abortions. The disputed law, which prevents doctors from providing abortion services unless they have secured admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, is identical to a restriction struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional in 2016’s Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, a case litigated and won by the Center. The case also defends the U.S. Supreme Court’s longstanding precedent that abortion providers and clinics have legal standing to challenge abortion restrictions that burden their patients’ fundamental right to access abortion.