Planned Parenthood is suing the state to expand access to abortion medication via telehealth. Under Alaska law, people seeking a medication-induced abortion must go in person to a clinic, which is usually limited to Anchorage or Fairbanks.
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky filed the lawsuit Thursday in Alaska Superior Court.
Lead case attorney Dylan Cowit said restricting access to a medication-induced abortion violates the Alaskans right to privacy and the fundamental right to abortion.
"Because it places a burden on their access to abortion, and the Alaska Supreme Court has made clear that when the state places a burden on abortion, they can only do so if there's a compelling reason to do it," Cowit said. "And here there's no reason, let alone a compelling one —"
Alaska's constitution includes the right to privacy, and that's long been interpreted to guarantee access to abortion.
In an email, Acting Attorney General Cori Mills declined to comment on the lawsuit but wrote that generally, "the department will defend the law, which carries a presumption of constitutionality and represents state policy validly enacted by the legislature and the governor."
Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for the Planned Parenthood affiliate, said medications are only an option for patients who have been pregnant fewer than 12 weeks, and she says in Alaska, the burden of travel to a clinic makes medication abortion too difficult to access.
"Every week, in fact, we see folks who, by the time they have made it to clinic to have their medication abortion, they have aged out of eligibility for that service,” she said. “And now (they) have to start the process all over again in trying to figure out, 'okay, medication abortion is no longer an option for me, so how am I going to get procedural abortion?'"
McNicholas says about a quarter of abortions nationwide are by medication.
According to the Planned Parenthood press release, the regional affiliate will be represented by attorneys from Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Alaska, and the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
