Alaska Supreme Court weighs reinstating law that would require abortions be provided only by licensed physicians

By Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska Supreme Court is considering whether to overturn a lower court ruling that removed restrictions on the kind of providers who can perform abortions in the state.

A Superior Court judge last year struck down a law that required abortions to be performed only by a doctor licensed by the State Medical Board. The ruling came after Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky sued the state in 2019.

Advanced practice clinicians — including physician assistants and nurse practitioners — have been allowed to provide medication abortion in Alaska since 2021, when Superior Court Judge Josie Garton granted a Planned Parenthood request while the underlying case was ongoing.

The lower court order a