State appealing injunction order in abortion case
The attorney general’s office filed notice Thursday that the state is appealing, once again, a preliminary injunction that prevents the enforcement of a law that effectively outlaws medication abortions in Arkansas.
The injunction was issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker, who issued a similar order in March 2016 that was dissolved last summer by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
In response to a directive from the 8th Circuit, Baker heard additional evidence this year before issuing her more detailed, 148page opinion that again blocks the law’s enforcement.
The law — a section of Act 577 of 2015 — requires providers of medication-induced abortions in Arkansas to secure a signed contract with a second doctor who has hospital admitting privileges and who will agree to take over the patient’s care if the patient experiences complications after being sent home.
Planned Parenthood, which sued over the law, has said it cannot find any doctor willing to satisfy the contracted-physician requirement, because of the stigma of associating with an abortion provider.
The organization, which operates one clinic each in Little Rock and Fayetteville, said the law isn’t necessary anyway because pill-induced abortion is generally safe and the clinics have more than adequate procedures in place to handle any complications, which are rare.
Baker agreed with Planned Parenthood, which provides only medication-induced abortions and consequently would have to stop providing abortions altogether in Arkansas if the law stands. That would leave only Little Rock Family Planning Services, which performs surgical and medication abortions, to provide abortions in Arkansas.
The law would also prevent women who prefer medication abortions, and for whom medication abortions are medically indicated, from receiving them at all.
Doctors have said medication abortion is rapidly becoming the preference of most abortion-seeking women across the country. It is only available, however, through nine weeks from a woman’s last menstrual period.
Baker analyzed statistics presented by an expert for Planned Parenthood and scrutinized by a statistician for the state to answer the question the 8th Circuit demanded she answer: Will the provision in question negatively impact a “large fraction” of abortion-seeking women in Arkansas in such a way that it violates their constitutional rights?
Baker said it would, no matter how various statistics are combined.
After the state appealed the 2016 injunction to the 8th Circuit, a three-judge panel heard oral arguments on the matter. It isn’t known whether the appellate court will schedule oral arguments again before deciding the latest appeal.
The preliminary injunction holds until the court orders otherwise. Meanwhile, a trial on whether the law is unconstitutional is tentatively set to take place several months from now. If the law is deemed unconstitutional, it would be thrown out.