ASRM Joins Amicus Briefs Opposing Abortion Restrictions in Several States
Apr 30, 2020
By: ASRM
Origin: ASRM Bulletin
As a proliferation of state-level measures designed to restrict access to abortion care have cropped up in the states under the auspices of COVID-19 response, ASRM has lent its support to briefs challenging the premise, need and substance of such orders.
Joined by fellow leading medical associations and patient advocacy organizations, ASRM has, since mid-April, joined Amicus Briefs challenging abortion restriction measures in Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Alabama.
While the nuances of each case vary, in these briefs, we have joined fellow experts with a vested interest in our patients’ well-being and fulfillment of professional duty, in challenging assertions that there is a specific medical need to limit access to abortion during the time of COVID-19. It is our consensus as leading medical authorities, we argue in more than one of our briefs, that the pandemic does not justify restricting or prohibiting abortion care. In fact, we assert, such orders to restrict abortion care will increase, rather than decrease, use of already strained hospital resources and precious personal protective equipment.
We continue to monitor the progress of each of these cases as well as related opportunities to advocate on behalf of our community on these matters.