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The AMA argues that a federal judge should block North Dakota’s rules, claiming that they “compel physicians and their agents to speak government-mandated messages that entail providing to their patients misleading or even patently false, non-medical information with which they disagree,” according to the lawsuit.
Abortion rights advocates have challenged several recent laws restricting access to the procedure, setting up a possible reckoning for Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood sued Alabama in May and Arkansas and Georgia last week.
The AMA argues that the requirements infringe on providers’ First Amendment rights by forcing providers to convey a claim “about fetal personhood that is unmoored from medical science” and about medication abortion that is “wholly unsupported by the best, most reliable scientific evidence.”
AMA President Patrice Harris said in a statement that the laws threaten patient-physician relationships, which she called “the cornerstone of health care.”
“North Dakota’s law undermines this relationship by requiring physicians to mislead and misinform their patients with messages that contradict reality and science,” she added. “The AMA will always defend science and open conversations about all health care options available to patients.”
The AMA filed the suit last week along with the Center for Reproductive Rights and member health care providers. It names North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Cass County State Attorney Birch Burdick in their official capacities.
A spokesperson for Stenehjem told CNN that the complaint is under review.
Burdick told CNN that a response would be filed “in due course” — probably a few weeks, he said.
“The Legislature from time to time passes laws related to this same topic and they have been challenged before,” he said. “And so I expect it will just let the court system sort it out.”
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