Alaska law saying only doctors can provide abortions is unconstitutional, judge rules

Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska judge has struck down a decades-old state law that restricted who could perform abortions in the state. The decision Wednesday comes out of a 2019 lawsuit brought by a Planned Parenthood group, which challenged the law that says only a doctor licensed by the State Medical Board can perform an abortion in Alaska. Superior Court Judge Josie Garton in 2021 granted the group’s request to allow advanced practice clinicians to provide medication abortion pending her decision in the underlying case. Garton at that time said the organization was likely to succeed in its lawsuit. The lawsuit says advanced practice clinicians help fill a void in the largely rural state where some communities lack access to doctors.