Oklahoma vs. Women

[ccharles000]

Anti-abortion activists found great encouragement in 2007, when the Supreme Court’s conservative majority abruptly departed from the high court’s recent precedents and upheld a federal ban on a particular method of abortion.

Soon, they began looking for other inventive restrictions on reproductive rights for testing in the courts.

In May, Okahoma state lawmakers approved a beaut: a law requiring that abortion providers fill out a 10-page questionnaire for each procedure, and that details of abortions be posted on a public Web site.

Among other things, the intrusive questionnaire asks three dozen questions about the woman’s reasons for having an abortion, including details about her relationship with the father that the government has no business probing.

The law’s purpose is political. Its real aim is to persuade doctors to stop performing abortions by placing new burdens on their practice, to intimidate and shame women, and to stigmatize a legal medical procedure that one in three women have at some point in their lives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/opinion/26mon2.html?_r=1

[ccharles000]

1. kick

[Quantess]

2. I thought the court struck this down?

[Heidi]

3. It wasn't struck down. A district judge issued a temporary restraining order

barring enforcement of the law so that she can look further into the case. The law would have become effective Nov. 1. The temporary restraining delays enforcement of the law to Dec. 4.

http://www.msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?ID=12003

http://www.fox23.com/mostpopular/story/Judge-Issues-Restraining-Order-In-Abortion-Law/PvuLaxPPa0qV45o3kI-N7A.cspx

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/10/judge-bars-restrictive-oklahoma-abortion-law-requiring-patient-data-to-be-posted-online.html