( CNN ) -- On Monday , a federal court struck down Alabama 's medically unnecessary law that singles out doctors who provide abortions and requires them to secure admitting privileges at a local hospital . The court called the justification for the law `` exceedingly weak . '' As an obstetrician-gynecologist , I could n't agree more . This decision is an important win for American women and for the practice of medicine . Let me be clear : We all want women to receive safe medical care . But these laws ( a number of states have adopted them ) do not make women safer . In fact , they have quite the opposite effect , as they will make it harder for women to access medical care , potentially forcing them to seek abortion services later in their pregnancy . These laws also jeopardize women 's safety by forcing qualified physicians to stop providing abortions for reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with medical safety . That is why leading medical groups like the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association oppose them . Whether a physician who provides abortions has hospital admitting privileges is not a reflection on the physician 's ability to provide quality abortion care . While hospital privileges in theory should be awarded based on physician competency , they in fact are often denied for reasons unrelated to the physician 's medical qualifications . For example , to obtain privileges , hospitals often require physicians to admit a certain number of patients each year . But doctors who provide abortions will likely never admit the minimum number of patients because complications are very , very rare . Here 's what is important to remember : Abortion is already extremely safe , and for the vast majority of abortions , hospitals do not need to play a role in the patient 's care . Abortion has a more than 99 % safety record , with a less than 0.3 % risk of complications that could merit hospital treatment . More than 90 % of abortions in the United States are performed in outpatient settings and almost all the complications that do arise can be treated on an outpatient basis . It 's one of the safest medical procedures performed in the United States today , period . In the exceedingly rare event of a complication , women 's health centers have procedures in place to ensure that a woman gets the care she needs . Admitting privileges -- or lack thereof -- do n't have any effect on a woman 's ability to receive emergency care if she needs it . In our modern care delivery model , emergency room physicians , hospitalists and hospital staff are trained to identify and treat all these types of patient situations . Even procedures with much higher rates of complication and mortality , such as colonoscopy , are not subject to these burdensome requirements because it 's clear that they are not needed to keep patients safe . These baseless restrictions serve solely to prevent qualified , competent physicians from providing safe abortion care to women who need it . To put it simply , there is no medical reason to treat abortion providers any differently than other medical professionals . As the Alabama court found , the law would have forced all but two health centers in the entire state to stop providing abortions . A similar law in Mississippi would force the last remaining clinic in the state to shut its doors , leaving women in the state with no place to safely end a pregnancy . Similar requirements have devastated women and families in Texas and threaten to close clinics in Oklahoma , Louisiana and Wisconsin . These laws are clearly not motivated by women 's safety , but by making access to safe , legal abortion difficult -- even impossible . Monday 's court opinion recognizes that a woman is safest when she can make the decision about abortion with her family in consultation with her doctor , free from political interference . It clears one obstacle in the path of women -- and their doctors -- in Alabama . In states across the nation , legislators who truly care about women 's safety would do well to work to eliminate unfounded restrictions to abortion , instead of continuing to introduce them .
John Jennings : Court strikes down Alabama law that erects barriers for abortion doctors . He says law purported to protect women , but instead bars them from medical care . Hospital ##s requirement an anti - abortion ruse . Not a very safe procedure , he says . Jennings : People who truly care about women 's rights should work to prevent these laws .