Pro-abortion rights rally at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday waded back into the long-running battle over abortion rights, agreeing to hear a case challenging a Louisiana law that made it more difficult for physicians to perform abortions.

The court did not act on another petition challenging an Indiana law that requires an ultrasound as part of an informed-consent waiting period for women seeking abortions.

The justices, acting on hundreds of petitions that piled up over the summer recess, granted review in June Medical Services v. Gee. The case and a companion case, Gee v. June Medical Services, will be argued early in 2020.

At issue is Louisiana's Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, which requires physicians performing abortions to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of the procedure. Challengers to the law argued that it would leave one doctor and one clinic available to perform abortions for approximately 10,000 Louisiana women who seek the procedure each year.

The high court struck down a similar Texas law in the 2016 case Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, but that was before the arrival of two new conservative justices whose views on abortion have not been fully tested: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh's predecessor, Anthony Kennedy, who had mixed views on abortion, joined liberal colleagues to strike down the Texas law by a 5-3 margin.

The Louisiana brief defended the statute as "based on a lengthy history of abortion clinic safety violations reflecting the clinics' indifference to doctor qualifications and the threat that indifference poses to women."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the Louisiana law, but the Supreme Court in February granted a stay preventing the statute from taking effect while the justices consider whether to take up the appeal. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. joined liberal justices in allowing the postponement. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a dissent on behalf of conservatives Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito Jr. and Neil Gorsuch.

Lawyers for the parties involved in the Louisiana case thus far include:

>> For June Medical Services: Travis Tu, counsel of record and senior counsel for litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights, as well as Stanford Law School professor Jeffrey Fisher, in his capacity as special counsel at O'Melveny & Myers, and Anton Metlitsky, a partner at O'Melveny in New York.

>> For Rebekah Gee, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health: Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill, counsel of record, and Gene Schaerr, Erik Jaffe and Stephen Schwartz of Schaerr|Jaffe in Washington. On Oct. 2, Schwartz was nominated by President Donald Trump to a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Read more:

Texas and Louisiana Tout Pro-Trump Emoluments Ruling to Defend Abortion Restrictions

The Justices Had 5 Votes to Overturn 'Roe' in 1992. Why That Didn't Happen.

Why Roberts Sided With Liberals Blocking Restrictive Louisiana Abortion Law

DC Circuit Rejects Trump's Blanket Ban on Immigrant Minors' Abortions