Hawaii Attorney General Clare E. Connors joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, supporting a group of Tennessee abortion providers. The providers are challenging a law requiring women seeking abortions to attend two in-person appointments with physicians no fewer than 48 hours apart.
The plaintiffs in Bristol Regional Women’s Center v. Slatery argue that Tennessee’s waiting-period law subjects women to an unnecessary and onerous requirement that will, in practice, delay abortions and increase the risks for women who seek to obtain them. In today’s brief, the coalition explains that waiting period laws are not necessary to ensure informed consent – Tennessee’s stated aim – and impose substantial burdens on women and abortion rights.
“The district court correctly determined that requiring a waiting period, as well as mandating, medically unnecessary, in-person doctor consultations are unconstitutional, unduly burdensome and a threat to the well-being of women seeking abortion procedures. Attorney General Connors said and added, “I join my colleagues in urging the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm the district court’s decision striking down this law.”
In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that a state may impose restrictions on a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy only if those restrictions are reasonably related to legitimate state interests, such as protecting women’s health. Following a four-day trial challenging Tennessee’s waiting period law in September 2019, the district court issued a thorough and comprehensive opinion, finding, among other things, that the law “provides no appreciable benefit” to women’s health and instead “imposes numerous burdens that, taken together, place women’s physical and physiological health and well-being at risk.”
In today’s brief, the coalition urges the 6th Circuit to uphold the district court’s ruling. The coalition explains that, contrary to Tennessee’s suggestion, many states do not subject women seeking abortion care to lengthy and onerous waiting periods, and instead treat abortion as one medical service among many, governed by standard ethical and legal obligations to secure patients’ informed consent. The attorneys general argue that because there is no evidence that women in these states fail to make informed decisions about their medical needs, Tennessee’s waiting-period law is not reasonably related to the aim of ensuring informed consent.
The coalition also argues that waiting-period laws impose serious burdens on women seeking medical care by delaying abortions and thereby increasing associated medical risks, as well as adding financial and logistical costs.
Joining Attorney General Raoul and Attorney General Connors in the brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
A copy of the brief can be found here.
