Advocates File Emergency Appeal to Block Oklahoma Medication Abortion Restrictions
Attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights filed an emergency appeal with the Oklahoma Supreme Court asking them to blocking a ruling Wednesday that allowed new restrictions on medication abortions to take effect.
Attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights filed an emergency appeal Wednesday night with the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block new restrictions on medication abortions set to take effect November 1.
The filing came the same day a lower court refused to block HB 2684, a law that prohibits the off-label use of the drug RU-486 (or mifepristone) and bans all medication abortions after 49 days of pregnancy.
HB 2684 is the third time in the past four years Oklahoma politicians have passed legislation restricting access to medication abortion.
Lawmakers in 2011 passed a measure that would have effectively banned the method. That law was eventually struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in a decision the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review.
Oklahoma lawmakers passed HB 2684 in response to that legal defeat.
Attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) cited the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s previous ruling striking the 2011 medication abortion restrictions as grounds for granting their request filed Wednesday. In order to comply with the law in effect and avoid serious penalties, doctors will be forced to either stop providing medical abortions entirely or follow dangerous outdated and inferior state-mandated protocol, according to the court papers.
The attorneys argued that some Oklahoma patients will lose access to medication abortion altogether and those patients that receive the state-mandated protocol will be forced to receive medical treatment that is less effective, more burdensome, and leaves those patients more likely to require surgical follow-up, the attorneys argue.
Some patients will be delayed in accessing abortion services, which then increases the health risks for those patients.
This is the second emergency motion pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court related to anti-choice restrictions set to take effect November 1. On Monday, attorneys from CRR filed an emergency motion asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling that allowed new hospital admitting privileges requirements to take effect.