Public Health Organizations Submit Amicus Brief in Support of Planned Parenthood’s Challenge to Indiana Abortion Law

Paul, Weiss submitted amicus briefs last week on behalf of the American Medical Women’s Association, the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, the National Physicians Alliance and Physicians for Reproductive Health (“Amici”) urging the affirmance of a preliminary injunction that barred enforcement of an Indiana law requiring women to undergo a medically unnecessary ultrasound 18 hours before obtaining an abortion. For many women, this law required them to travel great distances to obtain both the ultrasound and the abortion. The case is one of the first challenges to an abortion regulation being heard at the appellate level under the standard announced in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.

Amici argued that the state’s primary justifications for the law—that it furthered “informed consent” and advanced women’s mental health—lacked factual basis in mainstream scientific literature. To the contrary, such regulations contribute to an abortion stigma that has the potential to cause negative mental health outcomes for women who obtain abortions. Furthermore, Amici argued that the regulation was detrimental to public health because it undermined the doctrine of informed consent and interfered with the doctor-patient relationship.

The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Christopher Boehning, Roberto Gonzalez and Jane O’Brien and associates Michelle Kallen, Crystal Johnson, Jonathan Silberstein-Loeb and Kate Gadsden.