The Alaska Supreme Court is considering a case that could decide who can provide abortion care in the state

The Alaska Supreme Court is considering a case that is expected to determine who can provide abortion care in the state.

The court on Wednesday heard arguments in a 2019 case challenging the constitutionality of that law, which says only a doctor licensed by the state medical board can perform abortions in Alaska.

The 1970s law was struck down as unconstitutional last year by Superior Court Judge Josie Garton, a victory for the group that brought the challenge. Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, AirportAlaska, IndianaKentucky. The state appealed Garton’s decision.

Planned Parenthood has argued that there is no medical justification for the ban and that it unfairly burdens abortion seekers by limiting the pool of people eligible to provide care. In 2021, Garton granted the group’s request to allow advanced practice physicians – health care workers, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants – to provide medication abortions pending his decision in the underlying case. Planned Parenthood says they have continued to do so and since the 2024 decision they have also been able to provide procedural abortions.

Planned Parenthood attorneys said in court documents that advanced practice physicians provide care similar in risk and complexity to those providing regular abortion services, and can provide medication abortion in 25 states. Planned Parenthood’s advanced practice physicians want to provide abortion care only in the first trimester, lawyers said.

Since Garton’s 2021 decision, advanced practice physicians have been providing “almost all” medication abortions in Alaska, and Planned Parenthood clinics in the state are able to offer medication abortions every day, the lawyers wrote. Before, doctors employed by Planned Parenthood on a daily basis — at clinics on a limited number of days — were able to offer medication abortions perhaps once or twice a week at each clinic, he wrote.

A key statistics report released by the state earlier this year shows that the total number of abortions in Alaska has remained fairly consistent — 1,229 in 2021, 1,247 in 2022, 1,222 in 2023 and 1,224 last year.

The US Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion in 2022, leaving it up to individual states to regulate it.

Access to health care has been a long-standing concern in Alaska, with travel – sometimes covering hundreds of miles – necessary for many residents. Compounding ongoing challenges are recruiting and retaining medical providers.

Most Alaska communities are not connected to the state’s main road system, and health care in many small communities is often limited, requiring residents to fly to larger cities such as Anchorage or Seattle for more options or specialized care. Roundtrip flights can easily cost hundreds of dollars. In remote communities, flights may be delayed due to fog or bad weather.

Planned Parenthood has two clinics in Alaska, in Anchorage and Fairbanks. It closed its clinic Juno Last year.

The Alaska Supreme Court has long interpreted the right to privacy in the state constitution to include abortion rights.

But state lawyers argued in court filings that Planned Parenthood had not shown that the law at the center of the legal challenge “prevented women in Alaska from exercising their right to choose an abortion.” Planned Parenthood could have hired more doctors, but it chose not to do so, lawyers including Assistant Attorney General Laura Wolfe wrote.

“Even if the occasional patient is prevented from obtaining an abortion, the physician-only law is not unconstitutional, as it applies to all women who are not significantly affected by the law because the law clearly has a statutory sweep,” the filing said.

Wolfe and Camila Vega, the attorneys representing Planned Parenthood, presented their sides in court on Wednesday. The court did not indicate when it might rule.