Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill that would expand birth control access on Wednesday, while a judge on the Alaska Superior Court ruled against a state law that states only licensed doctors can perform abortions.
Dunleavy vetoed the bill, and Judge Josie Garton ruled against the state’s law prohibiting abortions from being performed unless it is by a doctor licensed by the State Medical Board, the ruling states. The bill that was vetoed would have required insurance companies to provide coverage for birth control and contraceptives.
The bill would have required insurance companies to “provide coverage for prescription contraceptives; and consultations, examinations, procedures, and medical services that are necessary to prescribe, dispense, insert, deliver, distribute, administer, or remove the drugs, devices, and other products or services.”
“Contraceptives are widely available, and compelling insurance companies to provide mandatory coverage for a year is bad policy,” Dunleavy’s spokesperson, Jeff Turner said in an email to The Associated Press.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy delivers remarks to service members, first responders, and their families on the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, which covers the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Alaska and Hawaii, received a permanent injunction after filing a complaint against the state of Alaska, the court ruling states. The court ruled that the law goes against parts of the state’s constitution.
Garton noted in the ruling that the law violates the constitutional right to privacy and that it also violates the right to patients seeking equal protection. (RELATED: Supreme Court Tosses Doctors’ Challenge To Abortion Pill)
“The State does not argue that it could meet this high burden,” the ruling states. “As previously mentioned there exists a comprehensive statutory and regulatory framework to protect health and safety in the practice of medicine. It remains unlawful for a person not properly licensed or qualified through education, skill and training to perform medication or aspiration abortion.”
Several states such as Nebraska, Florida and Texas have adopted stricter abortion laws since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision returned the abortion questioned to the states in 2022. However, other deep-red states like Florida and Missouri will have proposed abortion amendments appearing on the November ballot.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in April that an 1864 law banning almost all abortions could take effect, making abortions illegal, a decision that was countered by a law passed by the state Legislature following the ruling. The Supreme Court ruled against multiple doctors and “pro-life medical associations” in June after they challenged the FDA’s decision to change safety regulations for mifepristone, an abortion pill, ruling the plaintiffs didn’t have standing.
The Alaska governor’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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