Alaska Supreme Court to decide if state abortion law will stand

The Alaska Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a lawsuit challenging a state law that requires abortionists to be licensed physicians. Planned Parenthood had filed a lawsuit in hopes of blocking the law so advanced practice clinicians can commit abortions.

Key Takeaways:

• An Alaska law that requires abortionists to be licensed physicians was overturned in 2024 after a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood.

• The state has appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court in the hopes of overturning the lower court's ruling and reinstating the law.

• Attorneys from both the state and Planned Parenthood testified in front of the Alaska Supreme Court last week.

• Laws requiring abortionists to be licensed physicians are meant to protect women during what are risky abortion procedures.

The Details:

In 2019, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky filed a lawsuit to block an Alaska law that requires abortionists to be medical doctors. In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood argued that advanced practice clinicians should also be able to commit abortions.

In September 2024, a judge ruled in favor of the abortion conglomerate, stating that the law made abortion access in the state more difficult, thereby violating the privacy and equal protection rights of patients. Following that ruling, the state appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court in hopes of reinstating the licensed physician-only rule.

Last week, the Alaska Supreme Court heard arguments in the case.

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Laura Wolff, representing the Alaska Department of Law, argued that the right to privacy is not violated since few people have been negatively affected by the state's law. “The privacy clause analysis requires a significant impairment,” she told the court. “Not a modest, not a medium, a moderate, a significant impairment, in order to even trigger the privacy clause.”

However, Camila Vega, arguing for Planned Parenthood, said the loosening of the state's restrictions has allowed more women to access abortion. “The evidence … shows that since the injunction in this case, patients have been better able to access medication and aspiration abortion. They’ve been doing so for the last four years, and so we respectfully request that the court affirm the order,” she said.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Chief Justice Susan Carney said the court would issue a written decision at a later date.

Why It Matters:

Despite claims that abortion is health care, it is a violent procedure for both the preborn child and her mother.

Abortion Procedures: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Trimesters

The first-trimester surgical aspiration abortion tears the preborn child to pieces as she is suctioned through a powerful tube out of her mother's body. The procedure comes with numerous risks, including incomplete abortion, which occurs when pieces of the child are left behind, injury to the uterus or cervix, hemorrhage, infection, future pregnancy complications, and even death. Similarly, a second-trimester D&E abortion procedure kills the child by dismemberment when the abortionist tears her arms and legs from her torso and removes them before crushing her skull. It also comes with risks, including cervical and uterine perforation, incomplete abortion, infection, hemorrhage, and death.

Allowing a medical provider who is not trained as a physician increases the risk of injury to women who undergo these dangerous procedures. A requirement that an abortionist be a licensed physician is a common-sense restriction meant to protect women.