OKLAHOMA COALITION FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE v. CLINE

2016 OK 17
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 23, 2016
StatusPublished

This text of 2016 OK 17 (OKLAHOMA COALITION FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE v. CLINE) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
OKLAHOMA COALITION FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE v. CLINE, 2016 OK 17 (Okla. 2016).

Opinion

OSCN Found Document:OKLAHOMA COALITION FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE v. CLINE

OKLAHOMA COALITION FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE v. CLINE
2016 OK 17
Case Number: 114307
Decided: 02/23/2016
THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA


Cite as: 2016 OK 17, __ P.3d __

NOTICE: THIS OPINION HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION. UNTIL RELEASED, IT IS SUBJECT TO REVISION OR WITHDRAWAL.


OKLAHOMA COALITION FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE, on behalf of itself and its members; and NOVA HEALTH SYSTEMS, d/b/a REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES, on behalf of itself, its staff, and its patients, Plaintiffs/Appellees,
v.
TERRY L. CLINE, in his official capacity as Oklahoma Commissioner of Health; and LYLE KELSEY, in his official capacity as Executive Director of the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, Defendants/Appellants.

ON APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA COUNTY,
THE HONORABLE PATRICIA G. PARRISH, PRESIDING

¶0 In the district court, Plaintiffs challenged H.B. 2684 as unconstitutional under several theories. The district court agreed and found H.B. 2684 to be unconstitutional. Defendants appeal, only presenting Plaintiffs' theories that H.B. 2684 violates two sections of the Oklahoma Constitution and the question of issue preclusion based on this Court's opinion in Cline v. Okla. Coalition for Reprod. Justice, 2013 OK 93, 313 P.3d 253. This Court retained the appeal for disposition.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

Patrick R. Wyrick, Cara N. Rodriguez, Jared B. Haines, Office of the Attorney General, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for appellants.

J. Blake Patton, Walding & Patton PLLC, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the appellees.

TAYLOR, J.

¶1 The dispositive question presented to this Court is whether H.B. 2684, ch. 121, 2014 Okla. Sess. Laws 375-80 (codified at 63 O.S.Supp. 2014, § 1-729a), violates either of two sections of the Oklahoma Constitution: Article V, Section I (vesting legislative authority in the Oklahoma House and Senate); or Article V, Section 59 (prohibiting special laws). We answer in the negative. A challenge to H.B. 2684 as violative of any other Oklahoma constitutional provision or as violative of the United States Constitution is not before this Court, and we are thus limited in our decision.1

I. HISTORY

¶2 In determining the questions now before this Court, it is necessary to review H.B. 2684's predecessor, H.B. 1970, ch. 216, 2011 Okla. Sess. Laws 821-23 (codified at 63 O.S.Supp. 2011, § 1-729a), and our two pronouncements addressing it. In 2011, the Oklahoma Legislature enacted H.B. 1970, prohibiting the off-label use of Mifeprex (generally known as mifepristone or RU-486) and misoprostol (brand name Cytotec) for use in abortions.2 The effect of H.B. 1970 was to ban medication abortions in Oklahoma. Cline II, 2013 OK 93, ¶ 25, 313 P.3d at 262.

¶3 In the first pronouncement, this Court, following Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), affirmed the district court's decision that H.B. 1970 was unconstitutional. Okla. Coal. for Reprod. Justice v. Cline, 2012 OK 102, ¶ 3, 292 P.3d 27, 27-28 (Cline I). After this Court rendered the Cline I decision, the appellees filed a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. See Cline v. Okla. Coal. for Reprod. Justice, 133 S. Ct. 2887 (2013). The U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition and certified two questions to this Court: whether H.B. 1970 prohibits "(1) the use of misoprostol to induce abortions, including the use of misoprostol in conjunction with mifepristone according to a protocol approved by the Food and Drug Administration; and (2) the use of methotrexate to treat ectopic pregnancies." Cline II, 2013 OK 93, ¶ 8, 313 P.3d at 257. In Cline II, our second pronouncement, we answered both questions affirmatively. Id. ¶ 1, 313 P.3d at 255. The U.S. Supreme Court then dismissed the petition for certiorari as improvidently granted. Cline v. Okla. Coal. for Reprod. Justice, 134 S.Ct. 550 (2013).

¶5 In 2014, in response to the Cline II decision, the Legislature passed H.B. 2684, amending Title 63, Section 1-729a of the Oklahoma Statutes. H.B. 2684, ch. 121, 2014 Okla. Sess. Laws 375-80. H.B. 2684 was approved by the Governor and became effective on November 1, 2014. In H.B. 2684, the Legislature made 16 factual findings, including that the use of medication-inducing drugs presents significant risk to women, the complications of abortion-inducing drugs were higher than those for surgical abortions, fourteen women had died after off-label use of abortion-inducing drugs, and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) had been unable to determine whether the off-label use caused the deaths.3 The Legislature expressed its intent that the act not prohibit all medication abortions or the use of methotrexate in treating ectopic pregnancies. H.B. 2684, ch. 121, 2014 Okla. Sess. Laws 377, § 1-729a(A)(16) ("[T]his act does not ban the use of misoprostol in chemical abortion (and allows it as part of the FDA-approved Mifeprex regimen) . . . .").

¶6 H.B. 2684 restricts Mifeprex and misoprostol u se for abortions to the FDA-approved final Mifeprex label, prohibits methotrexate use for abortions except to terminate ectopic pregnancies,4 provides for liability of physicians who knowingly or recklessly perform an abortion in violation of H.B. 2684, and makes doctors subject to discipline and liability for violating H.B. 2684. Id. at 377-79, § 1-729a(C)-(H). Because the Mifeprex label only allows its use for 49 days after the last menstrual period and Mifeprex off-label use allows for its use up to 63 days, the effect of H.B. 2684 is to ban the use of the Mifeprex and misoprostol drugs for pregnancies between 49 and 63 days from the last menstrual period.

¶7 The Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice and Nova Health Systems (Plaintiffs) filed this challenge to H.B. 2684's restriction of off-label use of Mifeprex in the district court against the Oklahoma Commissioner of Health and the Executive Director of the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision (State). The Plaintiffs alleged, as a factual matter and without submitting evidentiary support, that H.B.

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Related

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey
505 U.S. 833 (Supreme Court, 1992)
Runyon v. Reid
1973 OK 25 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1973)
Democratic Party of Oklahoma v. Estep
652 P.2d 271 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1982)
Reynolds v. Porter
1988 OK 88 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1988)
City of Oklahoma City v. State Ex Rel. Oklahoma Department of Labor
918 P.2d 26 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1996)
Nealis v. Baird
1999 OK 98 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1999)
Moore v. Hayes
744 P.2d 934 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1987)
Elias v. City of Tulsa
1965 OK 164 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1965)
Miller v. Miller
1998 OK 24 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1998)
Pickens v. Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry
1997 OK 152 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1997)
Liddell v. Heavner
2008 OK 6 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2008)
In Re Initiative Petition No. 366, State Question No. 689
2002 OK 21 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2002)
State Ex Rel. Tal v. City of Oklahoma City
2002 OK 97 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2002)
Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice v. Cline
2012 OK 102 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2012)
Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice
2013 OK 93 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2013)
Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice v. Cline
2014 OK 91 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2014)
Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice v. Cline
2016 OK 17 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2016)
Cline v. Okla. Coal. for Reprod. Justice
134 S. Ct. 550 (Supreme Court, 2013)

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2016 OK 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oklahoma-coalition-for-reproductive-justice-v-cline-okla-2016.