Nova Health Systems v. Cline et al.
(REVISED 7.20.2018) This lawsuit challenges two Oklahoma measures which
threaten to make safe and legal abortion even harder to obtain in a state with
only two abortion providers.
The first
measure, HB 1721, bans the most commonly used method of ending a pregnancy in the second
trimester—which could force some women to undergo additional invasive,
unnecessary procedures, incur additional costs, delay their care, or even lose
access to abortion services entirely. The second
measure, HB1409, triples the state’s mandatory waiting period from 24 to 72 hours for
all women seeking abortion services–making Oklahoma the fifth U.S. state to
force women to delay constitutionally protected health care for at least three
days, the longest waiting period in the country.
This lawsuit is the eighth time in five years that the Center for Reproductive Rights has challenged unconstitutional restrictions on reproductive health care in Oklahoma, including a lawsuit filed in September 2015 challenging an omnibus measure that blatantly violates the Oklahoma Constitution’s single subject rule. The Center is also challenging the state’s Texas-style clinic shutdown law and most recently passed restrictions on medication abortion. The state Supreme Court temporarily blocked the clinic shutdown law from taking effect in November 2014 and a state court permanently blocked the restrictions on medication abortion last month.
Both measures
were signed into law by Governor Mary
Fallin this past spring and are slated to take effect on November 1, 2015.
Plaintiff(s): Nova Health Systems d/b/a Reproductive Services
Center Attorney(s): Autumn Katz, Molly Duane
Co-Counsel/Cooperating Attorneys: Blake Patton at Walding &, Patton
Summary: The Center filed a complaint in Oklahoma state court on October 2, 2015 challenging HB 1721, which bans the most common method of second trimester abortion, and HB 1409, which triples the state’s mandatory waiting period from 24 to 72 hours. The Center is arguing that these measures violate a woman’s constitutional right to abortion, the Oklahoma Constitution’s prohibition on special laws, and were passed for the improper purpose of restricting women’s access to abortion care in Oklahoma. On October 14, the district court granted our motion for a temporary injunction of HB 1721 and the law is now blocked. HB 1409 took effect on November 1, 2015.
On July 13, 2018, we filed a request with the trial court asking that both laws be permanently enjoined as impermissible under the Oklahoma Constitution.
