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Oklahoma Supreme Court rejects broad abortion law

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Oklahoma ruled Tuesday that a state law imposing broad restrictions on abortion violates the state constitution. The law required women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound within an hour of the procedure and contained sections on requirements for abortion clinic signs, the administration of an early-term abortion pill, and rules on lawsuits relating to abortions. The court held that the legislation "facially, patently, and obviously contained multiple subjects," and therefore violates the Oklahoma constitution, which requires legislation to be limited to one subject. The Oklahoma legislature is currently considering other bills that separately contain much of same substance as the overturned law. The Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the suit on behalf of a medical clinic, praised the court's decision, but expressed concern about the new bills being considered by the legislature. The court's decision affirmed a lower court ruling issued last August. In February, Oklahoma state court judge Daniel Owens ruled that a different state law, making it illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion based on the gender of a fetus and requiring numerous reporting requirements, also violated the state constitution's single subject requirement.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).