A Tulsa Abortion Clinic Attempts to Prevent the Enforcement of a New Oklahoma Abortion Law

A new law recently signed by Governor Brad Henry requires that minors either notify their parents or get judicial approval before receiving an abortion.
Bebe Anderson is an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights based in New York. She filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Tulsa abortion clinic to prevent the enforcement of the new Oklahoma law. Yesterday, she argued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma that the law should be halted because it puts young girls' health at risk. She stated that a quick response was crucial because Reproductive Services was scheduled to perform abortions that day at noon. Anderson argued that because even a few days' delay can push a woman from the first trimester to the second, the law, which doesn't set up a time frame in which the court must act if the minor seeks judicial approval, puts girls' health at a greater risk.
Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Sharrock argued that the clinic had failed to show immediate and irreparable harm if the temporary injunction were not granted.
She noted that in the past 13 months, the clinic had performed only 17 abortions without the girls' parents present.
About 90 percent of the girls who receive abortions at the Tulsa clinic do so with parental notification, Anderson said. However, she was not aware of any minors scheduled to receive abortions in the next two days without such notification.