Oklahoma Judge Issues Temporary Injunction Blocking Restriction on Medication Abortion

Reuters: Oklahoma judge halts law barring drug-induced abortions, by Steve Olafson:

 

(Reuters) - A judge blocked a new Oklahoma law on Wednesday that would have prohibited women in the state from having medication-induced abortions to end unwanted early-term pregnancies.

 

The law had been scheduled to go into effect on November 1, but state District Judge Dan Owens issued a temporary restraining order in a victory for abortion rights advocates.

 

Nova Health Systems, which operates a clinic in Tulsa, and the nonprofit Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice had filed a lawsuit to block the law. . . .

 

Center for Reproductive Rights - press release: Judge Blocks Oklahoma Law Restricting Medication Abortion:

Center for Reproductive Rights Lawsuit Says Law Sacrifices Women’s Health to Ideological Agenda

10.19.11 - (PRESS RELEASE) The judge overseeing a lawsuit brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights to overturn a law severely restricting the use of medications to terminate pregnancies has granted a temporary injunction blocking the law’s enforcement.

Today’s decision, handed down by Oklahoma County District Judge Daniel Owens, means that women seeking pregnancy terminations in Oklahoma will continue to have access to a medical protocol based on scientific evidence, sound medical judgment, and advances in medicine, and to medication as a non—surgical treatment option for some women with ectopic pregnancy.

The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit on October 5 on behalf of the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice, a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the availability of the full range of reproductive healthcare services to women throughout the state, and Nova Health Systems (d/b/a Reproductive Services), a non-profit reproductive healthcare facility located in Tulsa. . . .