Birth Control Centers, Inc. v. Reizen

743 F.2d 352
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedAugust 30, 1984
DocketNos. 81-1163, 81-1306
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 743 F.2d 352 (Birth Control Centers, Inc. v. Reizen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Birth Control Centers, Inc. v. Reizen, 743 F.2d 352 (6th Cir. 1984).

Opinions

HORTON, District Judge.

In 1978, the State of Michigan enacted a Public Health Code and implementing regulations, which together, provide a comprehensive legal framework regulating all freestanding surgical outpatient facilities (FSOF), including abortion clinics, in the State of Michigan. Plaintiffs, four clinics offering first trimester abortions and five physicians who regularly perform first trimester abortions in these clinics, challenged on due process and equal protection grounds the constitutionality of various provisions of the Michigan Public Health Code, Public Act 368 of 1978, and the regulations promulgated thereunder, applicable to abortion clinics and the performance by physicians of abortions in these clinics.

This action was brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against the Governor of the State [356]*356of Michigan, the Attorney General of the State of Michigan and the Director of the Michigan Department of Public Health seeking both declaratory and injunctive relief. The trial court upheld the constitutionality of Michigan’s statutory scheme and held valid all but two of the implementing regulations.1 The plaintiffs/appellants/cross appellees appealed the trial court’s decision finding the statute and regulations valid; the defendants/appellees/cross appellants have appealed that portion of the trial court’s ruling which found one regulation constitutionally unsound.2

We affirm the trial court’s ruling that the State of Michigan did not violate the plaintiff’s equal protection rights by regulating freestanding surgical outpatient facilities where abortions are performed while not regulating physicians’ private offices where abortions are performed.

We affirm the trial court’s holding that plaintiffs failed to establish such selective enforcement of the FSOF licensing scheme as would amount to a violation of the plaintiffs’ equal protection rights.

We affirm the trial court in holding that Rule 33 (counseling and referrals), Rule 47 (medical records), and Rule 35 (physician qualifications) do not violate the constitutional rights of plaintiffs or their patients.

We affirm the trial court’s ruling that Rule 68(8) (six foot corridors) is not reasonably related to a legitimate State interest.

We vacate the trial court’s determination that Rule 38 (review of medical records) and the staffing, structural and equipment regulations do not unduly burden a woman’s right to abortion. Rather, we find that Rules 26(2), 35(3), 57(6), 66, 67 and 68 have a significant impact on a woman’s right to terminate her first trimester pregnancy, and, therefore hold these regulations unconstitutional.

We vacate the trial court’s determination that Rule 38 (review of medical records) does not unduly burden a woman’s right to abortion. This regulation is remanded for further fact-finding and consideration in accordance with this opinion.

Finally, we vacate the trial court’s findings with respect to Rule 51 (regulation of second trimester abortions) and hold that Rule 51 is an unconstitutional violation of a woman’s due process right to terminate her pregnancy free of State interference.

The plaintiff abortion clinics and physicians challenge the Michigan regulatory scheme on both federal equal protection and due process grounds. The plaintiffs contend;

1. The process by which freestanding surgical outpatient facilities (FSOFs) are singled out for regulation while other facilities that perform similar surgical procedures (such as physicians’ private offices) are not subject to such regulation violates the plaintiffs’ rights under the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment.
2. Through the mechanism of selective enforcement, the State is disproportionally applying the FSOF regulations to abortion clinics (rather than to all freestanding surgical outpatient' facilities) and that this selective enforcement is a [357]*357violation of the plaintiffs’ equal protection rights.
3. The legislation governing freestanding surgical outpatient facilities is an impermissible regulation of first trimester abortions in violation of their patients’ fourteenth amendment due process rights to choose to terminate their pregnancies free of State interference.

See 508 F.Supp. at 1370.

The State contends the Michigan statutes and regulations governing FSOFs seek to regulate all FSOFs, not just abortion clinics, and therefore the legislation is legitimately related to the State’s interest in the health of its citizens. The State contends:

1. The legislation’s distinction between FSOFs and physicians’ private offices is rationally related to a valid State purpose and therefore does not violate the plaintiffs’ equal protection rights.
2. The State has not sought to enforce the FSOF licensing requirements against only abortion clinics rather than against all freestanding surgical outpatient facilities; therefore, the State has not engaged in selective enforcement in violation of the plaintiffs’ equal protection rights.
3. The legislation is not an impermissible State interference with a woman’s fundamental right to a first trimester abortion because the legislation does not require abortions to be performed in FSOFs and because compliance with the legislation does not result in an increase to patients in the cost of abortions.

I. Michigan’s statutory scheme

Michigan Public Act 368 of 1978 defines a freestanding surgical outpatient facility as:

a facility, other than the office of a physician, dentist, podiatrist, or other private office, offering a surgical procedure and related care that in the opinion of the attending physician can be safely performed without requiring overnight inpatient hospital care. It does not include a surgical outpatient facility owned by and operated as part of a hospital.

Mich.Comp.Laws § 333.20104(5).

The State of Michigan requires that a FSOF

(a) Be organized, administered, staffed, and equipped to provide on a regular and scheduled basis major and minor surgical procedures outside a hospital which in a physician’s judgment may be safely performed on a basis other than on an inpatient basis.
(b) Have the physician, professional nursing, technical, and supportive personnel; the technical, diagnostic, and treatment services; and the equipment necessary to assure the safe performance of surgery and related care undertaken in the facility.
(c) Have a written agreement with a nearby licensed hospital to provide for the emergency admission of post-surgical patients who for unpredictable reasons may require hospital admission and care.
(d) Assure that a clinical record is established for each patient including a history, physical examination, justification for treatment planned and rendered, tests and examinations performed, observations made, and treatment provided.

Mich.Comp.Laws § 333.20821

The legislation requires that all FSOFs obtain a license from the Michigan Department of Public Health.

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Birth Control Centers, Inc. v. Reizen
743 F.2d 352 (Sixth Circuit, 1984)

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743 F.2d 352, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/birth-control-centers-inc-v-reizen-ca6-1984.