Supreme Court blocks Louisiana abortion law from taking effect

The Supreme Court has blocked a Louisiana law that required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Opponents have said that the law, which was set to go into effect Monday, would have shuttered nearly all of the state's abortion clinics. Admitting privileges can be hard for abortion providers to obtain because there are often requirements that they admit a certain number of patients each year, but abortion complications that require hospitalization are rare. In a 5-4 vote, the court's liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that the state can't enforce the law while the legal battle plays out. The court could still rule on whether the law poses an undue burden to a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. It struck down a similar Texas law as unconstitutional in 2016.