House panel acts on abortion measures

It favors inducing-drugs limits, but hospital admitting-privileges bill falters

Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren
Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren

A legislative committee advanced one bill Tuesday that would tighten the restrictions on abortion-inducing drugs in Arkansas, while shooting down a second bill that would require doctors performing abortions to have hospital-admitting privileges.

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Arkansas Secretary of State

Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville

The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee supported House Bill 1394, sponsored by Rep. Charlene Fite, R-Van Buren, which would require Arkansas doctors to adhere to regulations recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when administering abortion-inducing drugs. The bill, approved on a voice vote, will now head to the House floor.

The committee voted down HB1421, by Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, which would require doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of where the abortions are performed. The bill first passed on a voice vote but narrowly failed in a 9-3 roll call vote. Legislation must have the support of 11 of the 20 members to make it out of House committees.

HB1394, called the Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act, seeks to codify into Arkansas law regulations recommended by the FDA for the use of the drug mifepristone, also called RU-486.

"This is a women's health issue," said Fite. "We have seen in our state and throughout the nation serious complications from the use of this drug regimen off-label."

The FDA recommends that specific doses of the drugs be administered, followed by specific dosage amounts of a second drug called misoprostol. The regulations also recommend that the patient return for three office visits to take the drug administered by a physician, as well as a follow-up visit to confirm the termination of the pregnancy.

The bill also requires a physician to examine a woman to document the gestational age of the fetus and the intrauterine location of the pregnancy to determine whether it's an ectopic pregnancy -- occurring outside of the uterus.

Opponents of the bill argued that the off-label use of certain drugs has led to safer usage. Janet Cathey, an assistant clinical professor at the University of Arkansas for the Medical Sciences in obstetrics and gynecology, said she has never been an abortion provider but that doctors regularly prescribe a different drug dosage than the label recommends.

"Numerous studies have revealed at a lower dose, mifepristone was just as effective and had fewer complications," she said. "The extensive research, which is cited and reported in repeated and reputable medical journals, showed that the complication rate with the use of mifepristone at 200 milligrams is safer with fewer side effects than the FDA-approved dose. The 200 milligram dose is now the standard of care."

The bill is one of two in the legislative session related to drug-induced abortions, sometimes called chemical abortions.

The Legislature passed and the governor signed a bill last month that requires a doctor to be in the room when abortion drugs are administered and bans the use of telemedicine in the procedures. Telemedicine abortions were not being performed in Arkansas before the bill passed.

The legislation, now Act 139 by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, and Rep. Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, also requires that a doctor make "every reasonable effort" to see the patient for a follow-up exam.

The legislation comes after a previous session in which the Arkansas Legislature passed some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, including a ban on most abortions after the 20th week of a woman's pregnancy.

Legislation barring most abortions after 12 weeks is being challenged in federal appeals court. The cost of that lawsuit was raised during discussions Tuesday of HB1421, which would require abortion providers to have hospital-admitting privileges.

Rep. Stephen Magie, D-Conway, said the state has spent about $80,000 defending the 12-week ban in federal court and is on track to spend up to $400,000.

"The concern I have about this, is that in many of the states where laws like this have passed is that they are held up in legal challenges," he said. "We're probably looking at a significant amount of resources, monies that can be spent on preventing abortion services, in terms of what we're going to be out in terms of legal services."

Bentley, the sponsor of the bill, said HB1421 was written to avoid the language being challenged in some of the 14 states that have passed similar laws.

"If you read this bill to the very end, there is no reason for a hospital to be held liable at all," she said. "I believe we have changed the wording of this bill to make it that we won't be held liable as the other states were."

The legislation specifically notes that hospitals would not be required to ask physicians if they perform abortions before granting or refusing to grant admitting privileges to the doctors. The bill also includes language that would make a hospital "immune from civil liability" for refusing admitting privileges.

Metro on 03/04/2015

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