NEWSFLASH: North Dakota Court Restricts Medication Abortions
NEWSFLASH: North Dakota Court Restricts Medication Abortions
The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a state law restricting medication abortions will be allowed to take effect, severely limiting womens access to a safe, legal medical procedure.
Said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which first filed a lawsuit challenging the bill in July 2011:
Todays decision directly conflicts with courts across the U.S. that have rejected the idea that politicians have any place in the practice of medicine or in womens deeply personal decisions about their pregnancies, their health, their families and their future.
The sole abortion clinic in the state has, as of Wednesday, stopped providing drug-facilitated abortions. Fearing legal action, Red River Womens Clinic director Tammi Kromenaker told the Associated Press: Ive directed staff to not offer [medication abortions] effective today. I didnt want to put any staff in jeopardy.
One in four women who end a pregnancy in the first nine weeks do so through non-surgical medication abortionnow, North Dakota women no longer have that option.
The law, HB 1297, allows only the outdated medication-abortion protocol for mifepristone approved by the FDA, and bans the off-label use of misoprostol in inducing abortions.
Three of the five Supreme Court judges agreed that the law violates the federal constitution, but it takes at least four of five to make a constitutional ruling in the state.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/10/29/newsflash-north-dakota-court-restricts-medication-abortions/