Summary: The Supreme Court will not hear the case concerning a new Arkansas abortion law.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said they would not hear a controversial new Arkansas abortion law, thus allowing it to go into effect. The law was passed in 2015 and blocks most medication-induced abortions in the state, according to CNN.
Since the Supreme Court will not weigh in on the case, the Arkansas law will start in mid-July. However, Planned Parenthood said that it plans on continuing its fight against it.
“Arkansas is now shamefully responsible for being the first state to ban medication abortion,” Planned Parenthood Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said. “This dangerous law also immediately ends access to safe, legal abortion at all but one health center in the state. If that’s not an undue burden, what is? This law cannot and must not stand. We will not stop fighting for every person’s right to access safe, legal abortion.”
Planned Parenthood said that the law places an undue burden on patients who seek abortions. According to USA Today, the new law will remove all abortion providers, except one clinic.
Planned Parenthood had wanted the Supreme Court to block the passage of the Arkansas law, but the Supreme Court said that the organization needed to show how many people were actually going to be impacted by its passage.
Medication abortion uses two pills to abort a fetus, and it is available in early stages of a pregnancy. The Arkansas law requires that doctors who give out the medication must have a relationship with a doctor who is contracted at a hospital. Arkansas lawmakers said that this is because they want patients to be able to access follow-up care and called the law “commonsense.”
The Arkansas lawsuit was based on a Texas abortion case, where a new law decreased the number of abortion clinics from 40 to seven. In Arkansas, though, the new law would only close one or two clinics.
Arkansas said that medically-induced abortions are less safe because the final dosage is often taken by the pregnant woman at her home alone. The state said that only 14% of women seeking abortions choose this option.
“Protecting the health and well-being of women and the unborn will always be a priority,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said. “We are a pro-life state and always will be as long as I am attorney general.”
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