Ohio Supreme Court Strikes a Blow to Planned Parenthood in Upholding Regulation of 'Abortion Pill'

    CHICAGO, July 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pro-life forces won an
important battle yesterday when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled to uphold a
state law regulating that abortion centers must properly follow FDA
guidelines in administering RU-486 (also known as the "abortion pill") in
order to protect the health of women using the drug.

    The ruling came in Rogers v. Planned Parenthood, a challenge by Planned
Parenthood to a 2004 law requiring that those administering RU-486 comply
with the FDA-approved treatment protocol for the "abortion pill" and,
consistent with the drug's safety and efficacy data, restrict its use to
pregnancies at or under 49 days gestation. In short, the law simply
requires abortionists to abide by the protocol approved by the FDA when it
first made RU-486 available in the United States in September 2000.

    Dr. Charmaine Yoest, AUL President & CEO said, "We applaud the Ohio
Supreme Court for cutting through Planned Parenthood's self-serving
rhetoric that it did not need to follow the protocol tested and approved by
the FDA when administering RU-486. For far too long, Planned Parenthood and
its enablers have thought themselves above the law. Today the Ohio Supreme
Court put a decisive end to that."

    Americans United for Life (AUL) filed an amicus brief in the case on
behalf of several U.S. Representatives supporting the State and the law.
AUL's amicus brief, filed on behalf of House Minority Leader John Boehner
(Ohio) and nine U.S. Representatives -- Roscoe Bartlett (Md.), Dan Burton
(Ind.), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Trent Franks (Ariz.), Jim Jordan (Ohio),
Robert E. Latta (Ohio), Joseph R. Pitts (Pa.), Jean Schmidt (Ohio), and
Chris Smith (N.J.) -- is available at

    http://www.aul.org/xm_client/client_documents/briefs/Rogers_v_PlannedPa
renthood.pdf.

    AUL Staff Counsel Mailee Smith said, "The fact that Planned Parenthood
readily admits to routinely disregarding the FDA-approved protocol and
actually argued it was entitled to dispense RU-486 in an untested and
dangerous manner is appalling. It is further confirmation that Planned
Parenthood is not the protector of women's health and welfare it holds
itself out to be."

    Planned Parenthood argued the law was unconstitutional and that its
requirements were unclear. The State of Ohio and AUL argued that the Ohio
law is definitive in its requirement that abortionists can use the RU-486
drug regimen only in the way in which it was tested and approved by the
FDA, as is clearly laid out in the manufacturer's label that accompanies
the drug.

    The case will now return to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for a
decision of whether the statute, as interpreted by the Ohio Supreme Court,
is constitutional.

    About Americans United for Life

    Americans United for Life (AUL) is a nonprofit, public-interest law and
policy organization whose vision is a nation in which everyone is welcomed
in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in
America, AUL has been committed to defending human life through vigorous
judicial, legislative, and educational efforts at both the federal and
state levels since 1971. The Wall Street Journal has profiled AUL, and PBS'
Frontline program chronicled AUL's successful efforts in Mississippi.