JUNEAU, Alaska – The Alaska Supreme Court is considering a case that is expected to determine who can provide abortion care in the state.
The court heard arguments Wednesday in a 2019 case challenging the constitutionality of a law that says abortions in Alaska can only be performed by a doctor licensed by the state Board of Medicine.
The law passed in the 1970s was declared unconstitutional Supreme Court Justice Josie Garton last year, a victory for the group that challenged it, Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky. The state appealed Garton's decision.
Planned Parenthood argues that the restriction has no medical justification and that it unfairly burdens those seeking abortions by limiting who is eligible to provide care. In 2021Garton approved the group's request to allow advanced practice physicians—health care workers such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants—to provide medical abortion pending her decision on the main case. They continue to do so, and after the 2024 regulation also gained the ability to perform procedural abortions, Planned Parenthood said.
Advanced practice physicians generally provide care similar in risk and complexity to abortion services, and in 25 states can perform medication abortion, Planned Parenthood's lawyers said in court papers. Advocates say Planned Parenthood's advanced practice doctors aim to provide abortion care as early as the first trimester.
After Garton's 2021 decision, advanced practice physicians performed “nearly all” medication abortions in Alaska, and Planned Parenthood clinics in the state could offer medication abortion every day they opened, the lawyers wrote. Before that, doctors employed by Planned Parenthood on a per diem basis (at clinics during limited hours) could offer medication abortion once or twice a week at each clinic, they wrote.
A vital statistics report released by the state earlier this year shows the total number of abortions in Alaska has been fairly stable — 1,229 in 2021, 1,247 in 2022, 1,222 in 2023 and 1,224 last year.
US Supreme Court repealed federal abortion rights in 2022, leaving regulation up to each state.
Access to health care has long been an issue in Alaska, with many residents having to travel, sometimes covering hundreds of miles. This situation is exacerbated by persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining healthcare workers.
Most Alaska communities are not connected to the state's main road system, and health care in many smaller communities is often limited, forcing residents to fly to larger cities like Anchorage or Seattle for more options or specialized care. Round trip flights can easily cost hundreds of dollars. In remote areas, fog or bad weather may cause flight delays.
Planned Parenthood has two clinics in Alaska, in Anchorage and Fairbanks. He closed his Juneau clinic last year.
Alaska Supreme Court has long interpreted the right to privacy enshrined in the state constitution to include the right to abortion.
But attorneys for the state argued in court papers that Planned Parenthood does not show that the law at the heart of the litigation “bars Alaska women from exercising their right to choose an abortion.” Planned Parenthood could have hired more doctors but chose not to, wrote lawyers including Laura Wolf, an assistant attorney general.
“Even if the occasional patient fails to obtain an abortion, the physician law is not unconstitutional as applied to all women who are not significantly affected by the law because the law is clearly enforceable,” the document states.
Wolf and Camila Vega, a lawyer representing Planned Parenthood, presented their sides in court Wednesday. The court did not specify when it might make a decision.
