Judge blocks 2 abortion laws
Fetal heartbeat, ‘unprofessional conduct’ provisions struck down
A judge Monday blocked Oklahoma laws that would have banned abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected and would have deemed abortions as “unprofessional conduct” by doctors.
The judge, however, refused to block enforcement of a new law that requires abortion doctors in Oklahoma to be board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology.
“This court … believes that irreparable harm would occur if we don’t put this requirement into effect,” Oklahoma County District Judge Cindy Truong said.
She also refused to block enforcement of two abortion medication laws. Those laws would increase regulations on medication abortions in which a woman can terminate her early-stage pregnancy through a two-dose abortion pill regimen.
Abortion providers now plan to go to the Oklahoma Supreme Court to try to get all the laws blocked.
“We will certainly be appealing the decision,” said Rabia Muqaddam, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“We’re going to try to get relief prior to the effective date of the bills on Nov. 1. The harm that is threatened by these bills is extremely catastrophic,” she said.
“We’re disappointed that the court seemed to think that there was a medical benefit to any of these restrictions. They certainly don’t have any medical benefit.”
Over half of the doctors who provide abortion care in Oklahoma would be immediately disqualified if the OBGYN requirement goes into effect, she told the judge.
“Abortion by any method is one of the safest outpatient procedures performed in the United States,” the attorney also said. “The state’s evidence to the contrary is ‘junk science’ that has been rejected by numerous courts, including by the Oklahoma Supreme Court two years ago.”
Abortion providers sued Sept. 1 to challenge the constitutionality of five new laws.
The judge is allowing temporary injunctions against two laws that would have banned most abortions.
One would have resulted in a ban on any abortions in Oklahoma not necessary to save a mother’s life or “prevent substantial or irreversible physical impairment.” Doctors who violated the law would have been engaging in “unprofessional conduct” that would result in suspension of their medical license.
The other would have prohibited an abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. A doctor in violation of that law would have been subject to a homicide charge.
An attorney for the state stipulated during the hearing both those bans likely would be unconstitutional if federal law was applied.
In response, the judge said, “The last time I checked Roe versus Wade is still the law in the United States.”
Challenges to anti-abortion laws can take years. The Oklahoma Supreme Court is still considering an appeal involving a 2015 law known as the “Unborn Child Protection-from-Dismemberment-Abortion Act.”
The latest legal challenge in Oklahoma comes at a time that the nation as a whole is facing uncertainly about the future of abortions. Thousands of women across the country marched Saturday in support of reproductive rights, shouting, “My body, my choice.”
The U.S. Supreme Court began a new term Monday that could result in an overhaul in abortion rights. Justice are scheduled to hear arguments in December on a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks.
In Oklahoma, abortion clinics have seen a surge in patients from Texas ever since new restrictions there went into effect.