20 August 2009

Oklahoma: state can't require ultrasound before abortion

From Oklahoma, where there are only 3 abortion clinics to serve the entire state's population:
An Oklahoma judge decided Tuesday that doctors do not need to perform ultrasounds and offer women detailed information about the tests before performing abortions, striking down the strictest such law in the country.

Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki L. Robertson ruled that the 2008 law, which included other abortion-related provisions, violated a state constitutional provision that requires laws to address only one subject.
Not the best reason for jump-through-hoops abortion laws to be struck down, but I'll take what I can get. This particular law was elaborate:
The Oklahoma law, which was never enforced, was the first to mandate that any woman seeking an abortion must have an ultrasound and that doctors describe the image in detail, including organs and extremities, even if the woman objects.
Failing to point out the fetus's organs and extremities would have been a felony.

Other provisions of the law prohibited doctors from writing off-label prescriptions for abortion pills, and required clinics to post signs that reminded women that nobody could coerce them into having an abortion. They also violate the Oklahoma constitution.

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