A divided three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Friday to leave intact -- for now -- a lower court's order preventing Arkansas officials from effectively stopping Planned Parenthood clinics in the state from performing abortions.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates one clinic each in Little Rock and Fayetteville, said the St. Louis-based appellate court's decision prevents the enforcement of a "dangerous law" approved by state lawmakers in 2015. The organization called Act 577 of 2015 "a medically unnecessary and draconian abortion restriction that would have eliminated all but one abortion provider in the state of Arkansas."
The attorney general's office had a different take on the panel's decision to stay its order overturning a 2016 preliminary injunction imposed by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker in Little Rock.
"It is unfortunate that Planned Parenthood continues to fight reasonable, common-sense health and safety regulations to ensure that medication abortions are conducted in a safe manner," Judd Deere, a spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, said Friday. He added, "Attorney General Rutledge will continue to defend this law and urge the Supreme Court of the United States to reject certiorari."
Act 577, also known as the Abortion Inducing Drugs Safety Act, was scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2016. It would have required providers of medication-induced abortions to contract with a physician who has admitting privileges at a designated hospital, in the event of an emergency after the patient left the clinic.
Planned Parenthood has said it couldn't find any doctors willing to serve as uncompensated contract physicians because of the personal and professional consequences of being associated with an abortion provider, even if they support access to abortion.
The only kind of abortions provided at Planned Parenthood's Arkansas clinics are medication-induced abortions, so the law would have effectively stopped the clinics from providing abortions. The only other clinic in the state that offers abortions is Little Rock Family Planning Services, which provides both medication-induced and surgical abortions.
By removing the early-pregnancy option of medication abortions, the law would force any woman seeking an abortion in Arkansas to undergo surgery, which also would have required women living in other parts of the state to travel to Little Rock for the procedure.
After Planned Parenthood sued, Baker blocked the law from being enforced, first through a temporary restraining order issued Dec. 31, 2015, and then through a longer-lasting preliminary injunction issued March 14, 2016. Baker found that the access burdens stemming from the law outweighed its safety concerns and that practices already in place by Planned Parenthood were sufficient to ensure that women receiving medication-induced abortions receive continuity of care after leaving the clinic.
The state appealed, and on July 28, a three-judge panel in St. Louis dissolved the injunction, directing Baker to reconsider the issue while determining more specifically how many women are likely to be burdened by the restrictions. The 8th Circuit denied Planned Parenthood's request to have the entire court rehear the arguments that led to the panel's ruling, and Planned Parenthood appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In light of the request for the nation's highest court to weigh in on the matter, which has some similarities to other contentious legislation around the country, the panel agreed Friday to stay its July 28 order, with U.S. Circuit Judge Raymond Gruender of St. Louis voting to deny the stay request.
The other judges on the panel are U.S. Circuit Judge Jane Kelly of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who was recently substituted for retired Chief U.S. Circuit Judge William Riley of Omaha, Neb., whose term ended on Aug. 31; and Senior U.S. District Judge James Gritzner of Des Moines, Iowa, who sat with the panel by designation.
The Supreme Court will now have to decide whether to review the case.
"As we march forward to seek review in the U.S. Supreme Court, we stand by the countless Arkansans who will continue accessing expert, compassionate health care at our health centers in Fayetteville and Little Rock," Planned Parenthood said later Friday in a news release.
The release said the original three-judge panel -- Gruender, Riley and Gritzner -- "refused to address the fact that the restriction in question provides no benefits to women's health and safety -- and only serves to restrict access to abortion."
"The Arkansas requirement is impossible to comply with for many reasons," Planned Parenthood said, "including because it limits eligible backup providers to a very narrow scope of medical practitioners, and because, as numerous courts have recognized, abortion providers face severe stigma, harassment, and violence. This law fails to guarantee the privacy -- and therefore the safety -- of the backup provider and could open physicians up to harassment or political pressure. And it does nothing to add to patient safety."
Planned Parenthood said it has "rigorous standards and training for staff as well as emergency plans in place because women's safety is our first priority."
Enforcement of Act 577 would force women in areas such as Fayetteville to make a 380-mile round trip, twice, to access an abortion in Little Rock, the provider has argued.
It noted, "This is hardest on people who already face barriers to care, such as people of color, young people, and those with low incomes."
Metro on 10/14/2017