The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed an emergency lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on Monday to keep abortion access legal. Arkansas became the sixth state to use the novel coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to ban abortion on April 3. Following other states that issued orders to temporarily ban abortion procedures during the crisis, Arkansas deemed abortion a nonessential procedure unless the pregnancy was life-threatening. The ACLU filed the lawsuit on the basis that limiting access to abortions is not only unconstitutional but discriminatory as other medical professionals, including dentists, are continuing to operate. Letters to healthcare providers were included in the legal complaint.
State officials sent healthcare providers a guidance letter on March 30 claiming that due to a shortage of supplies and increasing concerns about COVID-19 cases, healthcare providers should prioritize urgent procedures. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office confirmed that the order applied to "any type of abortion that is not immediately medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother," CNN reported. Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s statewide directive said that those who violated the order could be imprisoned up to a month and fined up to $500.
Within a week after the guidance letter was issued, an abortion clinic in the state received a letter from the state’s Department of Health, claiming the clinic was in violation of the state’s order by providing abortions that were “not immediately necessary to protect the life or health of the patient.” According to BuzzFeed News, there is only one abortion clinic statewide: Little Rock Family Planning Services. “Your facility is ordered to immediately cease and desist the performance of surgical abortions, except where immediately necessary to protect the life or health of the patient,” the letter read. “Any further violations of the April 3 Directive will result in an immediate suspension of your facilities license.”
Like officials in Alabama, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas, Arkansas officials are claiming that abortions fall under the federal category of nonessential surgeries that should be put off due to the need to preserve medical supplies during the pandemic. Federal guidelines were issued on March 18 to cancel all “non-essential surgeries and procedures” in order to preserve personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical providers and other equipment needed to treat coronavirus victims. The guidelines did not list abortion as nonessential; conservative officials are using this pandemic and any excuse they can to push their anti-abortion agenda. The ACLU and other advocates filed lawsuits in the five states earlier this year; while some states temporarily blocked the orders, others are still facing legal battles.
The ACLU complaint even refers to a recent interview by the governor, in which Hutchinson said the situation is being controlled and there is no shortage of hospital supplies or space. “According to the Governor, many hospitals are ‘empty,’ and there is no shortage of the medical professionals on whom we all gratefully depend to fight COVID-19 on the frontlines,” the lawsuit read. “Manufacturing and places of worship remain open, and medical providers around the State are free to exercise their independent professional judgment to provide patients with all surgical and dental care that they determine cannot be safely postponed.”
Reproductive rights are fundamental human rights. If the court does not block this order, women will be forced to not only delay time-essential and critical abortions, but potentially seek unsafe methods of abortion. Policies that ban or limit abortion do not decrease the number of abortions in a country; instead, they restrict a women’s right to her bodily autonomy and increase the number of unsafe abortions and maternal health problems that occur.
