Oklahoma Supreme Court
strikes down restrictive abortion law
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[October 05, 2016]
By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) - Oklahoma's highest court on
Tuesday struck down a law imposing restrictions on abortion providers,
including a requirement that they take samples of fetal tissue from
patients younger than 14 and preserve them for state investigators.
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The law also set new criminal penalties for providers who violate
abortion-related statutes as well as individuals who help a minor
evade the requirement to obtain parental consent. In addition, the
bill created a new, stricter inspection system for abortion clinics.
Legislators had said the fetal tissue section was aimed at capturing
child rapists and that the law would protect women's health. But the
New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which challenged the
law in court, said it unfairly targeted facilities that perform
abortions.
In a unanimous opinion, the nine-member Oklahoma Supreme Court found
the law violated the state constitution's requirement that each
legislative bill must address only "one subject."
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The rule, the court said, is designed to prevent legislators from
including provisions that would not normally pass in otherwise
popular bills. The state unsuccessfully asserted that each part of
the law addressed a single subject: women's reproductive health.
"We reject defendants' arguments and find this legislation violates
the single subject rule as each of these sections is so unrelated
and misleading that a legislator voting on this matter could have
been left with an unpalatable all-or-nothing choice," Justice Joseph
Watt wrote for the court.
In a concurring opinion, four judges said they also would have
struck down the law as an unconstitutional burden on a woman's right
to have an abortion.
Lincoln Ferguson, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General's
Office, called the decision "disappointing."
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"This law would have given law enforcement the ability to more
easily prosecute sexual assaults of children that are discovered
when a child under 14 has an abortion," he said.
"The Attorney General's Office remains committed to defending laws
aimed at protecting the safety and well-being of Oklahoma women."
In a statement, Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy
Northup said the law was "nothing but a cynical attack on women's
health and rights by unjustly targeting their trusted health care
providers."
Oklahoma's Republican-dominated government has joined several
socially conservative states in enacting abortion restrictions in
recent years, drawing court challenges.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law imposing
strict regulations on facilities that perform abortions. A similar
law is on hold in Oklahoma while the state Supreme Court considers
its legality.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Alan Crosby)
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