Tony Perkins to attend Supreme Court oral arguments in Louisiana abortion clinic admitting privileges case

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Family Research Council President Tony Perkins will be attending the Supreme Court oral arguments for June Medical Services v. Russo, a case about whether abortionists in Louisiana must have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. During his time as a state representative in Louisiana, Tony Perkins authored the state's first abortion clinic regulation act, which was among the first measures of its kind in the nation. Tony Perkins now serves as President of Family Research Council, which filed an amicus brief in this case.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins gave the following statement:

"As the author of Louisiana's first clinic regulation act, which was prompted by the deplorable conditions and inadequate healthcare of the abortion clinics, I'm thankful to see the effort to protect women from unsafe situations advance through subsequent generations. Protecting the lives of both unborn babies and their mothers requires sustained vigilance. By doing the hard work of passing this law and defending it to the U.S. Supreme Court, the state of Louisiana is proving that the pro-life movement is pro-woman.

"This law says nothing about whether a woman may obtain an abortion, only about whether she may obtain medical care if something goes wrong. Nothing about the law should be controversial for a business that insists it cares about women. Regardless of how you feel about abortion, everyone should agree that women deserve to know their doctors have taken the necessary precautions," concluded Perkins.

Katherine Beck Johnson, FRC's Research Fellow for Legal and Policy Studies, who helped draft FRC's amicus brief in this case, added:

"The admitting privilege requirement is the type of common-sense law to protect women that the abortion industry is eager to eliminate. Louisiana is only trying to ensure that, if something goes wrong during the procedure, the doctor has an agreement with a local hospital to admit the patient. This is standard practice for most doctors and even dentists. But for some reason, a lot of people want to let abortionists off the hook."

SOURCE Family Research Council