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Page Number: 109

28 

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

ALITO, J., dissenting 

rules on third-party standing provide a second, independ-
ent reason.  As a general rule, a plaintiff “must assert his
own legal rights and interests, and cannot rest his claim to 
relief  on  the  legal  rights  or  interests  of  third  parties.” 
Warth v. Seldin, 422 U. S. 490, 499 (1975).  We have recog-
nized a “limited” exception to this rule, but in order to qual-
ify,  a  litigant  must  demonstrate  (1)  closeness  to  the  third
party and (2) a hindrance to the third party’s ability to bring 
suit.  Kowalski  v.  Tesmer,  543  U. S.  125,  129–130  (2004); 
see also Powers v. Ohio, 499 U. S. 400, 410–411 (1991). 

The record shows that abortion providers cannot satisfy
either  prong  of  this  test.    First,  a  woman  who  obtains  an 
abortion typically does not develop a close relationship with 
the doctor who performs the procedure.  On the contrary,
their  relationship  is  generally  brief  and  very  limited.  In 
Louisiana, a woman may make her first visit to an abortion 
clinic the day before the procedure, and if she goes to June 
Medical, she is likely to have a short meeting with a coun-
selor,  not  the  doctor  who  will  actually  perform  the  proce-
dure.  See App. 784–786.  She will typically meet the abor-
tion doctor for the first time just before the procedure, and 
if  Doe  1’s  description  is  representative,  their  relationship
consists of the doctor’s telling the woman what he will do, 
offering to answer questions, informing her of his progress 
as  the  abortion  is  performed,  and  asking  her  to  remain 
calm.  Id., at 688.  Doe 4 testified that the surgical proce-
dure itself takes “two or three minutes.”  Record 14144.  Doe 
3  testified  that  he  can  perform  six  abortions  an  hour  and
once performed 64 abortions in a 2-day period.  App. 207, 
243. 

In the case of medication abortions, patients are required 
to schedule a follow-up appointment three weeks after the 
procedure, see id., at 129–131, 690, but surgical abortions,
which  constitute  the  majority  of  the  procedures  at  June
Medical and across the State, do not require any follow-up, 
id., at 691, and the great majority of women never return to