Court Allows Arkansas to Limit the Dangerous Abortion Pill That Kills Unborn Babies

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Sep 28, 2017   |   11:07AM   |   Little Rock, AR

In a pro-life victory Wednesday, a federal court refused to hear an appeal of an Arkansas law that regulates dangerous abortion drugs.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals said it will not reconsider an earlier court decision that overturned a temporary block on the law, according to the AP.

The state and the abortion business Planned Parenthood of the Heartland have been involved in a court battle over the law since December 2015. The law requires abortion facilities to follow Food and Drug Administration guidelines when administering abortion drugs. It also requires that abortion doctors who dispense the drugs maintain contact with another doctor who has hospital admitting privileges in case of patient emergencies.

A spokesperson for the Planned Parenthood abortion chain said they are considering what to do next.

“This is not over. We’re continuing to serve our patients in Little Rock and Fayetteville while we do everything in our power to protect their access to care [meaning abortion],” Aaron Samulcek told the AP in a statement.

Here’s more from the report:

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it won’t reconsider a three-judge panel’s ruling lifting a federal judge’s preliminary injunction against the law. The measure requires doctors providing the abortion pill to maintain a contract with another physician with admitting privileges at a hospital who agrees to handle any complications.

The panel in July sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker and said the judge should look into the number of women who would be unduly burdened by the requirement and whether it amounts to a “large fraction” of women seeking the abortion pill in Arkansas. Arkansas can’t enforce the restrictions until the court issues its mandate in the case.

Baker previously blocked the law, but a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the order in July, according to the AP. The panel ruled that Baker did not provide enough evidence indicating the number of women who allegedly would be burdened by the law.

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The Planned Parenthood abortion chain previously said two of its abortion clinics cannot meet the requirements, and would shut down if the law goes into effect.

Last summer, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge asked the federal circuit court to overturn the judge’s ruling and allow the law to go into effect. The attorney general argued that the lower court judge’s ruling was based on “clearly erroneous” findings.

In the appeal, the state argued that abortion drugs can result in serious complications, including incomplete abortions and the death of the woman. The state attorneys said Planned Parenthood sometimes refers patients who are experiencing complications to other abortion facilities or the emergency room, but it “cannot guarantee another provider will care for the patient.” They argued that the state law is necessary to protect patients in such cases.

The abortion drug RU-486 has a high complication rate and can be deadly to the mother as well as her unborn baby if complications are not treated. According to the FDA, at least 14 women have died and 2,207 women have been injured by the drug in America.

Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, previously told LifeNews that the abortion drug has killed almost 2,000 unborn children since Planned Parenthood of the Heartland moved in to Arkansas in 2012.

“It is clear that Planned Parenthood of the Heartland came to [Arkansas] to perform abortions,” Mimms said. “In Arkansas, they are the primary provider of abortion using the chemicals known as RU-486, and they want to do it their way, not following the protocol that the FDA developed when the abortion drugs were first approved in 2000.”