A federal judge has issued an 11th-hour restraining order to temporarily block three new abortion restrictions that were due to go into effect Wednesday in Arkansas. One of the laws requires that doctors be board-certified gynecologists, a stipulation that critics say would close the state’s only surgical abortion clinic.
Under existing Arkansas law, any licensed medical doctor, even those without certification in obstetrics and gynecology, can perform abortions. The new certification restriction imposed by Arkansas is similar to one upheld by a federal judge last year in Mississippi.
U.S. District Court Judge Kristine Baker, an Obama appointee, issued the ruling just before midnight Tuesday, minutes before the restrictions became law. The order will stay in place for two weeks while the case is adjudicated. In addition to the board-certification requirement, Arkansas was set to ban abortions after 18 weeks and make it illegal for doctors to perform abortions based on diagnoses of Down syndrome, the Washington Examiner reports.
In issuing the ruling, Baker determined the laws “cause ongoing and imminent irreparable harm” to patients.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the abortion restrictions into law in March but was subsequently challenged by Little Rock Family Planning Services, ACLU Arkansas and Planned Parenthood. In its filings, Little Rock Family Planning said it…
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