Challengers of an Arkansas law that requires doctors who perform medication abortions to contract with a second doctor who has hospital admitting privileges asked Friday to drop the case, at least for now.
Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma, doing business as Planned Parenthood Great Plains, and Dr. Stephanie Ho, who performs abortions for the clinics, sued the state in federal court in 2015, saying the contracted-physician requirement of Act 577 of 2015 would put them out of business because they couldn't find a qualifying doctor willing to provide the contracted services.
They said doctors were afraid to associate with an abortion provider because, even if they supported a woman's right to choose an abortion, the connection could cause hospitals and other physicians to to disassociate with them for fear of public backlash.
But in early November, while U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker's July 2 injunction blocking the state from enforcing the law was on appeal, a qualifying doctor came forward and agreed to serve as the contract physician. That prompted the plaintiffs and attorneys for the state to jointly ask the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to drop the appeal.
The 8th Circuit agreed and the case returned to Baker, who on March 27 granted the plaintiffs' request to stay the case for six months.
"Plaintiffs acknowledge that they have signed an agreement with a physician who has qualifying hospital privileges and that they are therefore currently satisfying Section 1540(d) of Arkansas Act 577," Baker said. "Plaintiffs argue, however, that the history of this case demonstrates that it may be difficult for them to continue retaining this contracted physician and quickly find a replacement if the contracted physician resigns."
She agreed to stop activity in the case while keeping it open in case the plaintiffs became unable to comply with the law and sought court intervention.
On Friday, two days before the six-month stay was to expire, the plaintiffs filed a status report acknowledging that they have been able to maintain their arrangement with the contracted physician and have decided not to pursue a separate equal protection claim "at this juncture."
They asked that Baker dismiss the case "without prejudice," which would allow them to refile the case if the need arises.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge welcomed the gesture.
"Planned Parenthood's motion to dismiss its merit-less lawsuit to block Arkansas's contract-physician requirement only underscores what I've said from Day One: Planned Parenthood should comply with Arkansas's common-sense requirement that abortion providers ensure patients have access to care for complications."
The injunction that Baker issued July 2 was the second one she had issued in the case. She first enjoined the state from enforcing the law in 2016, but that injunction was dissolved in 2017 by the 8th Circuit, which remanded the case to Baker to determine whether a "large fraction" of Arkansas women seeking medication abortions would be unduly burdened by the law.
In a 148-page order, after hearing additional evidence, she said that indeed, a "large fraction" of such women would be unfairly burdened by the law for many reasons, including that it would force women in the Fayetteville area to travel 380 miles round-trip to have a surgical abortion, which is only available in Little Rock at the Little Rock Family Planning clinic.
Planned Parenthood operates clinics in Little Rock and Fayetteville, but those clinics only provide medication abortions, not surgical abortions.
Metro on 05/25/2019