Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Inc. v. City of Akron

479 F. Supp. 1172, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9351
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedOctober 4, 1979
DocketCiv. A. C78-155A
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 479 F. Supp. 1172 (Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Inc. v. City of Akron) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Inc. v. City of Akron, 479 F. Supp. 1172, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9351 (N.D. Ohio 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CONTIE, District Judge.

On February 28, 1978, the city council of Akron, Ohio, by a seven to six vote, passed Ordinance Number 160-1978, “amending and supplementing the Codified Ordinances of the City of Akron, Ohio, 1975, by the amendment of Chapter 1870, entitled ‘Regulation of Abortions.’ ” 1 The ordinance represents an attempt to regulate the provision of abortions within the city of Akron without violating the constitutional right of a woman, in consultation with her physician, to choose to terminate her pregnancy. Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 93 S.Ct. 739, 35 L.Ed.2d 201 (1973); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973). The problem presently before the Court is the determination of whether Akron has accomplished that goal.

This Court is, of course, aware of the national controversy which has resulted from the Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe and Doe. Analytically, however, this case is no different than the numerous others that come before the Court. It is the duty of this Court to determine the controversy before it based upon the requirements of the Constitution as expounded by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the *1181 Sixth Circuit. 2 In considering the present case, this Court has attempted to do just that, nothing more and nothing less.

I.

Ordinance Number 160 — 1978 provides extensive regulations of the provision of abortions. It also provides criminal sanctions for violation of its requirements. Section 3 of the ordinance established an effective date of May 1, 1978.

On April 19,1978, the present action challenging the ordinance was instituted. The Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order “enjoining defendants and any of their employees, agents and servants from attempting to enforce Ordinance No. 160-1978. . . ” Subsequently, defendants consented to entry of a preliminary injunction pending the Court’s decision on the merits.

The Court duly heard testimony and received exhibits. The following shall constitute findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Rule 52, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

II.

The defendants in this action are the City of Akron, its Mayor, its Director of Public Health, and its Police Prosecutor. Plaintiffs are three Ohio corporations that operate out-patient abortion clinics within Akron and a physician who has performed abortions at one of those clinics.

On April 26,1978, Doctor Francois Seguin and Patricia K. Black petitioned the Court for leave to intervene as defendants in a number of different capacities. The Court granted such leave to the extent of permitting petitioners’ participation “solely in their individual capacity as parents of unmarried minor daughters of childbearing age..."

A.

At the present time, the clinics operated by the corporate plaintiffs provide abortions only during the first trimester of pregnancy. The clinic coordinator of Akron Women’s Clinic, however, indicated that if it were possible, that clinic would provide abortions during the early part of the second trimester of pregnancy. The reason that it is not now possible to provide abortions during the second trimester in a clinic setting is that Akron has had an ordinance requiring the performance of second trimester abortions in a hospital since some time prior to 1978. That ordinance is not now under attack.

The patients for whom the clinics provide their services range in age from about twelve years to approximately forty-five years. Two of the clinics provide abortions on three days a week (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) and the third provides abortions two days a week (Wednesday and Saturday).

Patients usually make their first contact with one of the clinics over the telephone. If a woman telephones and indicates that she desires an abortion and that her pregnancy has not progressed beyond the end of the first trimester, she will be given an appointment for one of the “procedure days.” When the patient arrives at the clinic on the day of her appointment she is asked certain questions about her medical history and her pregnancy. She also participates in a group counseling session with counselors employed by the respective clinics. These counselors have varying degrees of qualifications, none, however, is a physi *1182 cian. During the group counseling session, the patients are given information concerning the procedure to be performed upon them, information on birth control techniques, and after-care instructions. At some time near the close of her group counseling session, each patient is asked to sign a document acknowledging her informed consent to the performance of an abortion.

A patient’s first contact with the physician who is to perform the abortion procedure usually occurs when she is taken into the operating room. At that time, the physician reviews the patient’s medical chart and asks the patient if she has any questions. The doctor then performs a pelvic examination. If the pelvic examination does not reveal any medical problems and, further, indicates that the pregnancy has not progressed beyond the first trimester, the abortion usually will then be performed. There was some evidence that if the physician sensed that the patient was ambivalent concerning her decision, he would suggest that she return at another time after she had had some additional time to consider alternatives to abortion.

The abortion method used at the clinics is dilation and suction curettage (D&C). The procedure itself takes approximately five minutes.

B.

The physician plaintiff is a resident of Cincinnati and primarily is engaged in the practice of medicine in that city. He has been licensed as a physician by the state of Ohio since 1957. He testified that his specialty is “Family Planning, which is really a subspecialty of Family Practice.” As part of his practice, the physician plaintiff regularly performs abortions in Cincinnati.

Prior to the time the original complaint was filed in this action, the physician plaintiff had never performed abortions within Akron. 3 At some time prior to July 11, 1978, however, he received a telephone call from the clinic coordinator of Akron Women’s Clinic. The coordinator proposed an arrangement whereby the physician plaintiff would occasionally substitute for her clinic’s physicians when they were away from Akron or assist them during particularly busy times and they would, in return, do the same for him at his clinic in Cincinnati. She offered to pay his expenses to and from Akron plus a per procedure fee. The coordinator also inquired whether he would be interested in being a party to this action.

The physician plaintiff had been interested in finding a doctor who desired to enter into such a reciprocal arrangement for some time. He was, therefore, receptive to the coordinator’s proposal.

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Bluebook (online)
479 F. Supp. 1172, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/akron-center-for-reproductive-health-inc-v-city-of-akron-ohnd-1979.