Doctors Challenge Unscientific Abortion Laws That Force Them To Practice Bad Medicine,

ThinkProgress

Doctors Challenge Unscientific Abortion Laws That Force Them To Practice Bad Medicine

When it comes to reproductive rights, this legislative session has been characterized by first-of-their-kind laws intended to test the limits of Roe v. Wade. Bolstered by significant GOP gains in the 2014 midterm elections, state lawmakers have forged ahead into new territory, enacting policies that seek to limit access to abortion in innovative ways.

This week, however, doctors are fighting back. Abortion providers in two different states have filed suit against new laws that they say are based in scientific misinformation, and that ultimately force them to violate their best medical judgment when they’re treating their patients.

In Arizona, for example, several health care providers are challenging a law that requires doctors to mislead their patients by telling them their abortion can be reversed — pointing out the state shouldn’t be allowed to put words in doctors’ mouths.
Though there’s no credible scientific evidence to back up the notion of “abortion pill reversal,” it’s become a popular talking point among abortion opponents, who claim that some women change their minds in the middle of the two-part process to terminate a first-trimester pregnancy with medication. This spring, Arizona and Arkansas became the first states in the nation to force doctors to give this information to women seeking abortions. Members of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have referred to the new laws as “tantamount to quackery.”

So now, doctors are arguing the law should be struck down because it violates their First Amendment rights. “Plain and simple, this law would force doctors to lie to women about their health care options, and that is never acceptable,” Nancy Northup, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which frequently litigates against anti-abortion laws, said in a statement announcing the legal challenge.

Meanwhile, in Kansas ...

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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/06/04/3666144/doctors-challenge-abortion-laws/


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