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Page Number: 41

36 

JUNE MEDICAL SERVICES L. L. C. v. RUSSO 

Opinion of BREYER, J. 

V 
Benefits 
We turn finally to the law’s asserted benefits.  The Dis-
trict Court found that there was “ ‘no significant health-re-
lated  problem  that  the  new  law  helped  to  cure.’ ”    250 
F. Supp.  3d,  at  86  (quoting  Whole  Woman’s  Health,  579 
U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 22)).  It found that the admitting-
privileges  requirement  “[d]oes  [n]ot  [p]rotect  [w]omen’s
[h]ealth,”  provides  “no  significant  health  benefits,”  and
makes  no  improvement  to  women’s  health  “compared  to
prior law.”  250 F. Supp. 3d, at 86 (boldface deleted).  Our 
examination of the record convinces us that these findings
are not “clearly erroneous.”

First, the District Court found that the admitting-privi-
leges  requirement  serves  no  “relevant  credentialing  func-
tion.”  Id., at 87 (quoting Whole Woman’s Health, 579 U. S., 
at ___ (slip op., at 25)).  As we have seen, hospitals can, and 
do, deny admitting privileges for reasons unrelated to a doc-
tor’s ability safely to perform abortions. And Act 620’s re-
quirement  that  physicians  obtain  privileges  at  a  hospital
within 30 miles of the place where they perform abortions 
further constrains providers for reasons that bear no rela-
tionship to competence. 

Moreover, while “competency is a factor” in credentialing 
decisions, 250 F. Supp. 3d, at 46, hospitals primarily focus
upon  a  doctor’s  ability  to  perform  the  inpatient,  hospital-
based procedures for which the doctor seeks privileges—not 
outpatient abortions.  App. 877, 1373; see id., at 907; Brief 
for Medical Staff Professionals as Amici Curiae 26; Brief for 
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists et al. 
as  Amici  Curiae  12.  Indeed,  the  State’s  admitting-privi-
leges  expert,  Dr.  Robert  Marier,  testified  that,  when  he
served  as  the  Executive  Director  of  Louisiana’s  Board  of 
Medical  Examiners,  he  concurred  in  the  Board’s  position
that a physician was competent to perform first-trimester