The Supreme Court made clear Monday that it wants to stay out of the abortion debate for the time being, refusing to reinstate a Louisiana law that made most abortions criminal acts.
Lower federal courts in Louisiana had ruled the law unconstitutional, and the justices, with no recorded dissents, let those rulings stand.
It was the second time this term that the court has declined to review a restrictive abortion law. In November, it turned down an appeal over a Guam law that was found unconstitutional.
The court’s action indicates there is not enough support among the justices for tinkering with last term’s decision in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, which reaffirmed the constitutional right to abortion but allowed state restrictions during the later stages of pregnancy if the regulations do not put an “undue burden” on women seeking abortions.
In separate appeals, Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards and New Orleans District Atty. Harry Connick Sr. had asked the justices to order the lower courts to determine whether the law could be constitutional in some cases.
Louisiana officials also asked the court to reconsider its 1973 ruling in Roe vs. Wade, which said the Constitution protects the right to choose abortion and made the procedure legal nationwide. Despite urgings from the Bush administration and other abortion opponents, the court reaffirmed Roe in its Casey decision last June.
Lawyers for the parties challenging the Louisiana law called the state’s attempts to outlaw abortion a “senseless and costly enterprise that jeopardizes women’s health and lives.” The opponents also argued that it made criminal several forms of birth control that prevent an embryo from implanting in the womb.
Louisiana was one of several states that rushed to adopt laws after the Supreme Court in 1989 broadened state power to regulate abortion.
The Louisiana law made abortions criminal unless they were performed to save the mother’s life or, in certain cases, the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. A rape or incest victim would have to report the crime to police and have the procedure before the 13th week of pregnancy for abortion to be legal.
Doctors who violated the law could be imprisoned from 1 to 10 years and fined up to $100,000.
The Louisiana Legislature passed the law in June 1991 over the veto of then-Gov. Buddy Roemer, but a group of women, doctors and abortion clinics challenged it in court before it went into effect.
U.S. District Judge Adrian Duplantier struck down the law, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with that ruling on the grounds that the Casey ruling upheld Roe vs. Wade.
