976
Per Curiam
in the Ninth Circuit seeking to challenge those States' laws may well be able to meet the threshold "fair chance of success" requirement for a preliminary injunction merely by alleging an improper purpose for the physician-only rule, since, as noted above, the Court of Appeals did not appear to rely on any evidence suggesting an unlawful motive on the part of the Montana Legislature.5
For the foregoing reasons, we grant the petition for certiorari, reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 453-4, 453-16(a)(1) (1993); Idaho Code § 18-608 (1997); id., §§ 54-1803(3), 54-1803(4) (1994); Nev. Rev. Stat. § 442.250(1)(a) (1991); id., § 630.160 (1995); Wash. Rev. Code §§ 9.02.110, 9.02.120, 9.02.170(4) (Supp. 1997); id., §§ 18.57.020, 18.71.050 (Supp. 1997).
5 The dissent contends that some States which restrict the performance of abortions to licensed physicians may define "licensed physician" to include "physician-assistant" when the latter works under the former's supervision; thus, the dissent says, the Court of Appeals' decision may not in fact be inconsistent with the physician-only regimes of other States. Post, at 980-981. But the provisions of state law to which the dissent points reflect the general definition of what qualifies as the "authorized practice" of medicine, without making any specific reference to abortion. See, e. g., Fla. Stat. §§ 458.303(1)(a), 458.327(1), 458.347 (1991 and Supp. 1997); post, at 980-981, n. 7 (citing statutes). Thus, for example, under Florida law, the performance of an abortion by a physician-assistant would not constitute "practic[ing] medicine . . . without a license" for purposes of the felony defined in Fla. Stat. Ann. § 458.327(1) (Supp. 1997), but there is no reason to think it would not violate the more specific prohibition on the performance of abortions by persons other than "a doctor of medicine or osteopathic medicine licensed by the state under chapter 458 or chapter 459," Fla. Stat. §§ 390.001(1)(a), 390.001(3) (1993). A formal opinion by the Attorney General of California has reached precisely this conclusion under that State's law: "[W]e cannot accept the notion that the Legislature meant to gainsay th[e] carefully tailored and highly specific determination [that abortions should be performed by licensed physicians] when it . . . adopted the general language of the Physician Assistant Practice Act." 74 Op. Cal. Atty. Gen. 101, 108 (1991).
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