Supreme Court blocks Louisiana abortion law

The Supreme Court Thursday blocked a Louisiana abortion access law from going into effect for now, dealing a victory to opponents of the law who argued it could decimate "safe and legal" abortions in the state. The order was 5-4 with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court's four liberals voting for the stay. New conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a dissent. Louisiana's Unsafe Abortion Protection Act has been blocked since its enactment in 2014, and requires a doctor to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the facility where the abortion is performed (admitting privilege is the right granted to a doctor to admit patients to a particular hospital). Louisiana argues that the law is necessary to provide a higher level of physician competence, but critics say there is no medical justification for the law and it amounts to a veiled attempt to unlawfully restrict abortion. The Supreme Court said that the restrictions constituted an undue burden on a woman's right to seek an abortion. Supporters of abortion rights fear that the court's conservative majority will move to chip away at abortion rights if not eventually all but overturn the landmark Supreme Court opinion of Roe v. Wade. According to the court, the law would severely limit the number of providers available to perform abortions, result in the closure of clinics and "place added stress" on remaining facilities. About 10,000 women a year seek abortions in the state and the challengers had shown that if the law were to go into effect, only one physician would be able to provide abortions in the state.

In Other News After handing out Coca-Cola napkins suggesting passengers give their name and number to their "plane crush," both companies are apologizing. It started with 33 words on napkins advertising Diet Coke: "because you're on a plane of full of interesting people and hey ... you never know.” The back continues, “be a little old school. write down your number & give it to your plane crush. you never know ...” While some passengers thought the napkins were humorous others apparently were not as pleased and ultimately the Diet Coke ad is being terminated. Major League Baseball is reportedly changing the name of the disabled list 53 years after it was first adopted. MLB will now use the term "injured list" as the designation for players who are forced to miss time due to physical ailments. MLB is instituting the change "out of concern that the term 'disabled' for injured players falsely conflates disabilities with injuries and an inability to participate in sports.” Hall of Fame outfielder and former MLB manager Frank Robinson died at the age of 83 on Thursday. Robinson has gone down as one of the greatest players to ever take the field. In 21 seasons, he hit .294 with 586 home runs, 528 doubles and 1,812 RBI. He ranks 10th all-time on MLB's career home run list. He won the 1956 National League Rookie of the Year award, won a Gold Glove in 1958, earned 14 All-Star selections, took home the 1966 Triple Crown, won a pair of World Series rings (1966 and 1970) and was named the 1966 World Series MVP. He is the only player in MLB history to win the MVP award in both leagues (1961 with the Reds and 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles). Robinson also managed four different clubs, becoming the first African American manager in MLB history in 1975.

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