A hearing was set Monday for Aug. 10 on a request by two abortion providers to halt the enforcement of a new state law that subjects the clinics to potentially harsh penalties for infractions.
Planned Parenthood, which operates clinics in Little Rock and Fayetteville that provide medication abortions, and Little Rock Family Planning Services, which provides surgical abortions, jointly filed a federal lawsuit June 20. It contends that a section of Act 383 of 2017 is unconstitutional in that it subjects the clinics to more rigorous penalties from periodic inspections than other clinics that don't provide abortions.
Last week, the plaintiffs asked U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. to consider ruling on a request for a preliminary injunction before the law's July 30 effective date. They asked him to make a ruling based on written arguments, saying the law is clearly unconstitutional and that there are no factual disputes requiring a hearing.
On Friday, Moody set an expedited schedule, requiring the state Department of Health to reply to the lawsuit's allegations by 5 p.m. July 24. He also ordered the plaintiffs to respond by July 31, and agreed to expedite a decision on the law's constitutionality.
On Monday, Moody scheduled a hearing for Aug. 10, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
The lawsuit was one of two concerning state abortion laws filed June 20 in federal court in Little Rock. The other, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York City on behalf of Dr. Frederick Hopkins, an obstetrician-gynecologist who provides abortions at Little Rock Family Planning Services, challenges four new laws passed by state legislators earlier this year. Three of those laws are also set to go into effect on July 30, while the effective date for the fourth is Jan. 1.
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker has scheduled a hearing beginning at 2 p.m. Thursday on Hopkins' request for a preliminary injunction to block those four laws from taking effect until their constitutionality can be decided.
The laws being challenged by Hopkins would restrict the use of the dilation and evacuation procedure, which the challenge calls a safe and medically effective abortion procedure; ban abortions that are sought based on the sex of the fetus; require physicians performing abortions on anyone 16 or younger to preserve the fetal tissue and notify local police; and require doctors to notify a woman's family members about their right to participate in the disposition of tissue from her abortion or miscarriage.
Abortion rights advocates say the challenged laws are all designed to make it difficult or impossible for a woman to have an abortion in Arkansas. Anti-abortion groups say the laws are designed to protect underage girls and ensure that doctors understand a woman's medical history before performing an abortion.
Metro on 07/11/2017