Healthcare
‘Rogue’ Oklahoma Judge Upholds Law Banning Abortion Method
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An Oklahoma judge upheld a law Friday banning a common abortion method for second trimester abortions.
Oklahoma County District Judge Cindy Truong upheld a 2015 Oklahoma law banning the dilation and evacuation method, CBS News reported. The law will go into effect as soon as courts issue a final order.
The Center for Reproductive Rights challenged the law, according to the outlet.
The dilation and evacuation method is considered the “standard of care,” according to Center for Reproductive Rights Litigation Director Julie Rikelman. Rikelman said the organization plans to immediately appeal the ruling to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
“There really is no other standard method of care for women at that point in their pregnancy,” Rikelman told CBS News Friday. “It really puts doctors and women in an impossible situation.”
The dilation and evacuation procedure is used for second trimester abortions when women are between 13 and 24 weeks pregnant. Dilation and evacuation involves pulling apart the limbs of an unborn baby in order to allow the limbs to be extracted from the womb.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, a Republican, weighed in on the matter Friday.
“It is unconscionable to think that we would allow this practice to continue. Judge Truong is to be commended for declaring this legislation constitutional,” Hunter said in a statement Friday according to CBS. “Today is a major victory for basic human decency in Oklahoma.”
Advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America called Truong a “rogue” judge in a Friday tweet, saying that Truong “abandoned precedent.”
BREAKING: A rogue district judge in Oklahoma has abandoned precedent and upheld the state’s ban on a safe and standard abortion procedure. The harm of this decision cannot be overstated. https://t.co/ffZE562dr0
— NARAL (@NARAL) July 12, 2019
Oklahoma law requires that women who want to have abortions receive state directed counseling as well as go through a 72-hour waiting period before having the procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Private insurance companies are only permitted to cover abortions if they threaten the life of the mother, and parents must consent if their minors are to receive abortions.
Oklahoma also bans the use of abortions for sex selection purposes.
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