Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Abortion-Rights Groups File Suit Over Ark. Laws For Creating 'Burdensome Bureaucratic Hurdles'
The Associated Press: Groups File Lawsuits Over New Arkansas Abortion Restrictions
Abortion-rights groups asked a federal court Tuesday to block Arkansas from enforcing new restrictions lawmakers approved this year, including a ban on a commonly used second-trimester procedure that the groups say would make it nearly impossible for many women in the state to have an abortion. (DeMillo, 6/20)
The Washington Post: ACLU, Planned Parenthood Challenge New Arkansas Abortion Regulations
The lawsuit aims to block four Arkansas laws that are scheduled to take effect later this year, among them a ban on a common abortion method during a woman’s second trimester of pregnancy known as dilation and extraction. The regulations also would prompt providers to notify — and seek consent from — a woman’s partner or family member before an abortion and would increase the amount of medical records doctors must request before an abortion to ensure a woman is not seeking an abortion based on the gender of the fetus. The new Arkansas laws also would require providers to more extensively collect and preserve fetal tissue from abortions performed on minors, should local police need it for evidence in an investigation, according to the lawsuit. (Ockerman, 6/20)
Meanwhile, in New York —
The Wall Street Journal: N.Y. Lawsuit Seeks To Protect Abortion-Clinic Patients
New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against anti-abortion protesters who he said harass women outside a Queens health clinic, calling them murderers and carrying posters of mangled fetuses. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleges that anti-abortion protesters have tried to block the entrance to the Choices Women’s Medical Center, and have physically and verbally harassed patients in an attempt to impede access to reproductive services. (Alfaro, 6/20)
