The American Medical Association filed a lawsuit June 25 to block enforcement of two North Dakota laws the physicians' group says "force physicians to violate their obligation to give honest and informed advice" about reproductive health.
The AMA filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of North Dakota in partnership with the Center for Reproductive Rights and North Dakota's only abortion clinic, Red River Women's Clinic.
At issue is an existing law that requires physicians to tell patients abortions terminate "the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." The plaintiffs allege this is a "controversial and ideological message … unmoored from medical science."
The lawsuit also seeks to block H.B. 1336, a law that takes effect Aug. 1, which would require physicians to tell patients drug-induced abortions can be reversed. This is "patently false and unproven," the AMA said in a press release. This message is required by law in seven other states: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Utah.
The lawsuit argues the two laws violate the First Amendment rights of physicians and have the potential to harm patients.
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