Oklahoma Supreme Court Delivers An Important Victory For Abortion Rights

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Think Progress
Oklahoma Supreme Court Delivers An Important Victory For Abortion Rights
by Tara Culp-Ressler
November 4, 2014

The Oklahoma Supreme Court stepped in to protect reproductive rights on Tuesday, temporarily blocking two harsh abortion restrictions that went into effect this weekend to very little fanfare as the national attention has been focused on this week’s midterm elections. The move ensures that the state’s busiest abortion clinic will be able to remain operating, at least for now.

The two laws in question are nearly identical to abortion restrictions that are currently wreaking havoc on reproductive health access in Texas. The first requires doctors to have admitting privileges with local hospitals, an unnecessary regulation that doesn’t have any effect on patient safety. The second places limits on the way that doctors are allowed to administer the abortion pill, essentially circumventing the best practice to force doctors to revert to an outdated method of medication abortion.

“We have seen the heartbreaking impact these restrictions have had on women in Texas who lost access to safe, legal abortion overnight,” Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement. “We are relieved the court has stepped in to protect women’s access to safe, legal abortion in Oklahoma.”

The ruling isn’t final; it simply prevents the laws from being enforced while they return to the district courts to be fully litigated. But the Center for Reproductive Rights, the New York-based organization that is fighting to overturn the two measures, is celebrating the move as a significant victory for the time being....

MORE at http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/11/04/3588580/oklahoma-supreme-court-block-abortion/