Okla. Abortion Laws Spur High-Profile Court Battles Over State Restrictions

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 27 Oct 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Court battles over two laws that give Oklahoma some of the most restrictive abortion policies in the nation could be a bellwether in the debate over states' attempts to require certain procedures or reporting of information before women receive abortion services, some experts say, the AP/ABC News reports.

One law requires providers to give women seeking abortions a survey that asks about their race, education, reason for seeking an abortion, personal relationships and finances, among other questions. The law also requires doctors to provide women with detailed information about complications that can arise from an abortion. Supporters say the survey results -- which would be anonymous and posted online by the state Health Department -- will help observers determine the reasons why women seek abortions. Critics say the law is designed to provide another roadblock to women seeking the procedure. "Nobody undertakes this kind of decision lightly to begin with," Anita Fream, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma, said, adding, "To turn around and, once you've made this decision, find out the legislators have imposed these additional restrictions, it's really quite problematic."

The other law requires women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound as a doctor explains the images. The law requires the use of a vaginal transducer in the pregnancy's early stages, which provides a clearer image than the traditional abdominal ultrasound but is more invasive. Both laws are the farthest-reaching in the nation, according to Elizabeth Nash, a public policy analyst with the Guttmacher Institute.

The Center for Reproductive Rights has challenged the laws in court. Last week, a state district judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement of the questionnaire law. Earlier this year, a district judge blocked enforcement of the ultrasound law, but the state has appealed the decision to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Followers of the legal cases say they resemble battles leading up to the passage of the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. In that case, the original Nebraska law was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court before Congress adopted the federal law, which the court upheld in 2007.

"(E)xpect these Oklahoma laws and the ensuing court decisions to be the first rather than last word on how far a state may go with respect to compulsory procedures and reporting requirements," University of Oklahoma law professor Joseph Thai said (Murphy, AP/ABC News, 10/23).

Law Seeks To Stigmatize Procedure, NYT Editorial Says

The goals of the questionnaire law are "political," a New York Times editorial says, adding that the law's "real aim is to persuade doctors to stop performing abortions by placing new burdens on their practice, to intimidate and shame women, and to stigmatize a legal medical procedure that one in three women have at some point in their lives." The survey asks dozens of questions "about the woman's reasons for having an abortion, including details about her relationship with the father that the government has no business probing," the editorial states.

The editorial notes that abortion-rights opponents "found great encouragement" in the Supreme Court's 2007 upholding of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and soon "began looking for other inventive restrictions on reproductive rights for testing in the courts."

CRR succeeded in obtaining a temporary restraining order that blocks the law from going into effect on Nov. 1 by has arguing against the law on a technicality: It addresses several different issues in a single bill, violating the state's constitution. The judge ruled on the technicality, "not the affront to women's rights. ... Still, the victory for reproductive freedom is heartening," the Times says (New York Times, 10/26).

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