A bright spot in the recent spate of body blows to reproductive rights: The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that declared the state's absolute ban on medication abortion unconstitutional, ending a long legal battle over women's access to medication abortion and the non-surgical treatment of ectopic pregnancies in the state.
The high court's decision to dismiss the state's appeal is the final word on a 2011 law banning the off-label use of abortion-inducing medication. The law was twice struck down as an unconstitutional burden on women's access to abortion, once by a district court and again by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
According to data from the Guttmacher Institute, one-quarter of abortions before nine weeks are medication abortions, and non-surgical abortion is the most commonly used treatment for ectopic pregnancies.
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