Two doctors in Louisiana are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant an emergency stay of a law they say could cripple access to abortions in the state starting next week.
The law requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic. It would leave only one doctor in a single clinic to provide abortions in a state where 10,000 women seek the procedure each year, according to the plaintiffs.
In an application submitted on Monday to Justice Samuel Alito and expected to be reviewed by the full court, the unnamed physicians, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, asked the court to prevent the law from going into effect, as it is scheduled to do next week. Alito on Tuesday gave Louisiana two days to respond to the application.
