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Oklahoma’s Abortion Restrictions Get Yet Another Legal Challenge

A new lawsuit filed in state court argues a law signed by Gov. Fallin in May that requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital violates the Oklahoma Constitution.

A new lawsuit filed in state court argues a law signed by Gov. Fallin in May that requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital violates the Oklahoma Constitution. Shutterstock

Just two days after reproductive health-care advocates sued to challenge Oklahoma lawmakers’ latest attempts to restrict access to medication abortion, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a second lawsuit, this time challenging the state’s admitting privileges law.

Signed by Gov. Mary Fallin in May, SB 1848 requires, among other things, that doctors performing abortions in the state maintain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the facility in which the abortion is performed. Failure to abide by those requirements would result in civil and criminal penalties.

Attorneys filed Thursday’s lawsuit in state court on behalf of Larry A. Burns, a physician with more than 41 years of experience providing safe abortion care in Norman, Oklahoma. Burns has been unable to obtain privileges at any of the 16 qualifying hospitals within 30 miles of his office, with many hospitals even refusing to process his application, according to the complaint.

Burns is one of three abortion providers in the state and provides nearly half of abortion services for Oklahoma patients, according to the complaint. Should the law take effect as scheduled on November 1, Burns will be forced to close his practice.

The Oklahoma State Medical Association opposed SB 1848 because health officials believe it improperly interferes with the doctor-patient relationship and creates regulatory hurdles that interfere with the best interests of the patient.

“This latest restriction on abortion, like all the others that have been passed by this legislature and subsequently blocked by the courts, reflects nothing more than a single-minded obsession with shutting down the clinics that offer safe, legal care to women who have made the decision to end a pregnancy,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.

“Legal challenges to laws like this have exposed the disingenuousness of the politicians who claim they are about protecting women’s health and safety. We are confident this court will see through the pretense and block this law before it damages the health and rights of Oklahoma women,” Northup said.

As alleged in the complaint, SB 1848 violates numerous provisions of the Oklahoma Constitution, including the state’s “single-subject” rule that requires laws passed in the state deal with one discreet issue. SB 1848 deals with six distinct provisions that have no common theme or purpose, according to the complaint.

Earlier this year, a judge ruled a state law banning off-label use of abortion-inducing medication was a violation of Oklahoma’s “single-subject” rule.

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in that case, the Oklahoma legislature passed another law attempting to restrict medication abortions in the state. Attorneys from the Center of Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit challenging that law Tuesday.

SB 1848 is similar to admitting privilege requirements passed and later blocked by courts in Mississippi, Alabama, and Wisconsin. Women’s health-care providers and advocates are also involved in two challenges to Texas’ admitting privileges requirement, which has already closed health centers across the state.