– A new law went into effect on Monday that unconstitutionally restricts minors ability to seek abortions in Oklahoma. The law also requires that abortion providers assume unlimited responsibility for any post-abortion care medical costs if an abortion is performed on a minor without "parental consent or knowledge." This consent or knowledge requirement is mandatory regardless of whether the minor is emancipated, mature, abused, or in need of emergency medical care. The Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit today to block the law before Judge Terry C. Kern in United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa.
"This law, by requiring that ‘parental consent or knowledge’ apply without limitation to all abortions performed on minors, fails even to provide exceptions for young women who may have been physically or sexually abused by a parent or who require emergency abortions to preserve their health or life," said Bebe Anderson, a Center for Reproductive Rights Staff Attorney and lead counsel in the case.
Signed into law by Governor Frank Keating on June 4, 2001, HB 1727 was adopted as part of an unrelated bill dealing with nursing home care and facilities. The Center for Reproductive Rights is challenging Oklahoma’s law because it exposes abortion providers to unlimited liability for any subsequent medical treatment minors may require because of the abortion. This liability is without regard to a physician’s exercise of care, in contrast to the malpractice laws that apply to all other medical service providers. This vague law also unconstitutionally burdens minors’ access to abortions, by failing to provide minors with the means to obtain a waiver of the "parental consent or knowledge" requirement and by failing to provide an exception for emergency situations in which an abortion is necessary to protect a minor’s health or life.
The plaintiff in Nova Health Systems dba Reproductive Services v. Fogarty, et al. is represented by Bebe Anderson and Jody Ratner of the Center for Reproductive Rights and M.M. Hardwick of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
