The Oklahoma Supreme Court has upheld a law that prohibits doctors from administering abortion-inducing drugs after 49 days of pregnancy.
In a decision Tuesday overturning a lower court ruling, Oklahoma’s highest court said the measure doesn’t violate the state’s constitution. Instead, it is “reasonably and substantially connected to protecting women,” the justices wrote in the majority opinion.
The law prohibits physicians from off-label use of RU-486, and instead requires them to prescribe it according to protocol laid out by the Food and Drug Administration, which sets out the 49-day limit. It also bans all medication abortions past 49 days of pregnancy.
The law was passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Mary Fallon in 2014. It’s one of dozens of similar measures other GOP-led states have passed over the last few years regulating how medication abortions can be administered.
The lawsuit against Oklahoma’s law was brought by the Oklahoma Coaltion for Reproductive Justice, which argued that it required abortion-inducing medications to be used according to outdated protocol. Groups opposed to the law say Republicans are singling out abortion drugs by setting restrictions on their use, even though doctors often make off-label prescriptions.
