Alaska governor vetoes expanded birth control access as a judge strikes down abortion limits
JUNEAU, Alaska — In competing developments over reproductive rights in the nation’s largest state, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy a bill vetoed to expand access to birth control while a judge destroyed decades of restrictions on who could perform abortions.
The Republican governor’s veto Wednesday stunned supporters of the measure, which would have forced insurance companies to cover up to a year’s supply of contraceptives, seen as especially important to provide access to contraception in remote rural communities.
The account It passed the state legislature overwhelmingly this year, 29-11 in the Republican-controlled House and 16-3 in the bipartisan Senate. It was not opposed by insurance companies, proponents noted.
But in an emailed statement, Dunleavy spokesman Jeff Turner said he vetoed it because “contraceptives are widely available and forcing insurance companies to provide mandatory coverage for a year is bad policy.”
Supporters of the bill said the veto would perpetuate barriers that hamper access to contraception in much of the state, including towns accessible only by air and for patients in Alaska who have Medicaid, where supplies of birth control pills are limited to one month at a time.
“Governor Dunleavy’s veto of HB 17, after eight years of tireless effort, overwhelming community support, and positive collaboration with insurance companies, is deeply disappointing,” said Democratic Rep. Ashley Carrick, the bill’s sponsor. “There is simply no justification for vetoing a bill that would ensure that everyone in Alaska, regardless of where they live, has access to essential medications like birth control.”
Meanwhile, Alaska Superior Court Judge Josie Garton ruled Wednesday that a state law requiring only a doctor licensed by the State Medical Board to perform abortions in Alaska is unconstitutional. Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky accused of the law in 2019, which stated that physicians with advanced practice experience – including registered nurses and physician assistants – should also be allowed to perform medication or aspiration abortions.
Such clinicians already perform procedures that are “similar or more complex” than medical abortion or aspiration, such as delivering babies and removing and inserting intrauterine contraceptive devices, the lawsuit says. Those providers help fill a gap in the largely rural state where some communities lack regular access to doctors, the group’s lawsuit says.
Garton in 2021 has granted the group’s request to allow experienced clinicians to perform medical abortions pending her decision in the underlying case.
The Alaska Supreme Court has interpreted the right to privacy in the state constitution to include the right to abortion.
In her ruling Wednesday, Garton found that the law violated patients’ privacy and equal protection rights by burdening their access to abortions, as well as the rights of clinicians qualified to perform the procedures. The restrictions disproportionately impact people with low incomes, inflexible work schedules or limited access to transportation, the judge noted.
“There is … no medical reason why abortion should be regulated more restrictively than any other form of reproductive health care,” such as the medical treatment of miscarriage, Garton wrote.
Women, particularly in rural Alaska, must fly to larger cities, such as Anchorage, Juneau or even Seattle, for abortion care because of the limited number of doctors who can provide the service in the state. Sometimes, women must wait weeks before being seen by a doctor, the lawsuit alleges.
The judge ruled that there was no reliable statistical evidence to show that the law affected patients’ ability to obtain timely abortions. But, she wrote, the question was whether it raised barriers to care, and it did.
In an emailed statement, Deputy Attorney General Chris Robison said the state is reconsidering the decision.
“The law was enacted to ensure medical safety, and these types of judgments are better made by the legislative or executive branches of government,” Robison said.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, advanced clinicians can provide abortion care in about 20 states. In two of those states — New Mexico and Rhode Island — care is limited to medication abortions. In California, certain requirements must be met, such as that the clinician provide care during the first trimester, under a doctor’s supervision and after training, the organization says.
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Johnson reported from Seattle.