The American Medical Association has filed a lawsuit against the state of North Dakota in an effort to block two abortion related laws.
One of the laws, which is set to take effect Aug. 1, requires doctors in North Dakota to inform patients that medical abortions can be reveresed. According to the AMA, that is “a patently false and unproven claim unsupported by scientific evidence.”
“Indeed, once an abortion has occurred, whether by medication abortion or by any other means, a woman is no longer pregnant, which cannot be reversed,” the lawsuit says.
The AMA is also challenging and existing law that requires doctors to tell pregnant women that abortion terminates “the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.” The group claims that the law “unconstitutionally forces physicians to act as the mouthpiece of the state.”
“[The law] forces physicians to endorse a controversial and ideological government message which misleads patients, which is unmoored from the scientific facts relevant to the patient’s need to consent to abortion, and which shames and stigmatizes the patients’ decision to seek an abortion,” the complaint reads.
“The patient-physician relationship is the cornerstone of health care, and depends upon honest, open conversations about all of a patient’s health care options,” said AMA President Patrice A. Harris in a statement. “The AMA will always defend science and open conversations about all health care options available to patients.”
As of right now, North Dakota has just one abortion clinic left. The AMA and the Center for Reproductive Rights hope that the court will block North Dakota’s new abortion law before it takes effect later this summer. It hopes the court will take down any existing laws that harm the practice of reproductive health and a doctor’s ability to give medical advice without going against their medical ethics.
If you would like to read more law related news stories, visit our news feed at Cohen & Cohen
