An admitting privilege is the right of a doctor to admit patients to a hospital for medical treatment without first having to go through an emergency department. This is generally restricted to doctors on the hospital staff, although in some countries such as Canada and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, both general practitioners and specialists can have admitting privileges. The practice of credentialing physicians who do not work at a particular hospital to admit has been steadily declining, and as of 2022, is essentially non-existent in many areas. Admitting privileges have been used as precedent to impede abortion providers in several U.S. states, including

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. This means the doctor is unable to provide an abortion to a patient unless that doctor has admitting privileges, regardless of where the procedure occurs. Supporters of these laws claim that patients should have access to a hospital in case of complications. The

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is a professional association of physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology in the United States. Several Latin American countries are also represented within Districts of ...

considers requiring admitting privileges for abortions to be unnecessary given that " 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services removed its requirement that ambulatory surgical centers participating in Medicaid and Medicare have hospital admitting privileges, asserting they were unnecessary in the promotion of patient health, an inefficient use of health care dollars, and an administrative barrier to efficient operations". The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in '' June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo'', that some restrictions based on admitting privileges were unconstitutional.

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