Oklahoma's track record of trying to restrict abortion took another hit Monday when an Oklahoma County judge threw out a law restricting medication abortions, saying it violated the state constitution.
The state's Republican-controlled, conservative Legislature passed the law after a court tossed out an even more restrictive measure.
District Judge Patricia Parrish struck down the current law, ruling that since it applied specifically to abortion-inducing drugs, it amounted to a "special law" prohibited in the constitution.
It would have required that these drugs be administered only in accordance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration label instructions.
Backers said they were interested in women's safety, but opponents said most doctors administer the medication in an updated and safer way than spelled out in the protocol and the law was really just another attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions.
"For years, Oklahoma politicians have made it their mission to stand between women and safe, legal abortion care, and the courts have stepped in time and time again to stop them," said Nancy Northup, president and chief executive officer of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit.
"It's time for Oklahoma politicians to take the hint and give up their relentless crusade against women and their doctors."
Signed by Gov. Mary Fallin last year, the law was set to take effect Nov. 1, 2014, but was blocked by the state Supreme Court pending resolution of the lawsuit.
In 2012, the state Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional a bill that banned drug-induced abortions altogether. The more recent bill was intended to withstand court objections to the earlier measure.
"The law in question is designed to protect both unborn life and the health and life of the mother," Fallin said. "It is disappointing to see a judge strike down this law which was written by the Legislature to specifically comply with the Supreme Court's guidance on this important issue."
Emotional issue
The abortion issue has been an emotional one at the state Capitol, with lawmakers repeatedly passing measures that don't stand up in court.In April, Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Oklahoma City, said on the floor of the state House he was so upset with the Oklahoma Supreme Court that "if I were not a Christian and didn't have a prohibition against suicide, I would walk across the street, douse myself in gasoline, and set myself on fire to protest the evil in that building."
The court building is across the street from the state Capitol.
He lashed out again Monday.
"We can blame our extremist liberal state Supreme Court for this latest deadly ruling against babies in Oklahoma," he said.
"Our state Supreme Court rules for the abortion industry every time, so much so that the abortion industry challenges pro-life laws in state court instead of federal courts."
A medication abortion happens when a woman takes two different drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. Women not wanting a surgical abortion have the medication option up to nine weeks into their pregnancy.
"The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and she said that this law is unconstitutional because it is singling out these medications solely when they're used for ending a pregnancy," said senior staff attorney Autumn Katz, of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
"The Legislature has no rational basis for doing so, and that's why (the judge) struck down the law."
She said more than 2 million American women have taken the drugs together since the FDA approved them in 2000.
Since approval, it was discovered that mifepristone could be taken in smaller dosages and when women are nine weeks pregnant, two weeks longer than specified in the FDA protocol.
For the defense, Deputy Solicitor General Mithun Mansinghani contended that the off-label way of administering the abortion drugs was the least safe method. Mansinghani noted women are six times more likely to get an infection when the drugs aren't administered in accordance with the FDA protocol.
"The evidence clearly shows that the off-label usage is more dangerous and not as safe as surgical abortion," Mansinghani said.
Eight deaths caused by bacterial infections and related to the off-
label method also were mentioned by Mansinghani. The judge said those deaths were not proven to be a direct result of the off-label protocol, but it hadn't been ruled out either. Katz said during the hearing that infections are possible in other abortion methods, as well.
It also was noted that 96 percent of medication abortions follow off-label protocol.
"Virtually all of the physicians in the United States who provide medication abortions follow off-label, what we call evidence-based protocol, because they're ... actually much safer and more effective than the FDA protocol," Katz said.
She also said medication abortions are less expensive and allow women to take the second day of the drug regimen at home.
Mansinghani said the state plans to appeal.
Past court rulings
Oklahoma has lost previous lawsuits against:--A law barring young girls from an over-the-counter emergency contraceptive.
--A measure that would have forced women to show identification when buying "morning after" emergency contraceptives and required girls younger than 17 to have a prescription for the medication.
--A law that required a woman to have an ultrasound at least one hour before getting abortion.
The New York-based abortion rights group also is challenging an Oklahoma law requiring an abortion clinic to have present a doctor who has permission to admit a patient to a nearby hospital if something goes wrong. It is blocked pending the outcome of that lawsuit.
Plaintiffs in the medication abortion case were the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice and Reproductive Services, a nonprofit reproductive health care clinic in Tulsa. Defendants were Oklahoma Health Commissioner Terry Cline and Lyle Kelsey, executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision.
(c)2015 The Oklahoman
