CNA Staff, May 8, 2020 / 11:30 am
A federal judge in Arkansas on Thursday upheld the state's requirement that women obtain a negative coronavirus test before having an abortion.
Calling the decision "agonizingly difficult," Judge Brian Miller for the Eastern District Court of Arkansas said the state's testing mandate-which applies to all elective surgeries and not just abortions-is "reasonable" during the public health emergency and was not done "with an eye toward limiting abortions.
The judge noted that "it is undisputed that surgical abortions have still taken place."
The abortion clinic Little Rock Family Planning Services had requested a temporary injunction on the state health department's requirement that elective surgery patients obtain a negative new coronavirus (COVID-19) test result within 48 hours before the procedure.