Transfer Agreements in the news

We recently posted on our Facebook and Twitter news about Missouri and Ohio contending with Transfer Agreements in the legal system as Kentucky did just last week.

Many other states require such agreements, as they do for any ambulatory surgical center. An overview of this legislation by state is here.

In 1998 KRLA lobbied for safety measures to be enforced by way of Transfer and Transport Agreements between an abortion clinic and an ambulance service and a hospital to ensure that a woman injured in a botched abortion would stand the best possible chance to survive. This legislation passed. It did not include private doctor offices.

No transfer agreement, no abortion clinics. This is one route to abolishing abortion or at least making it less damaging, state by state. But, no surprise, suing to overturn the law is popular with the clinics across the nation. In Kentucky, Planned Parenthood joined the EMW suit last spring. Their Louisville clinic had not stood up to licensure requirements either. They were unable to get a TA.

The EMW attorney, Don Cox, opened his case by stating he wanted Kentucky’s 1998 legislation to be permanently enjoined. This means, “Let’s never revisit this one.”

For those of us who attended the bench trial (no jury), we were somewhat stupefied by the arguments. Trying to piece together the rationale for singing the praises of Dr. Marshall, EMW’s co-owner, while never knowing who the Planned Parenthood physicians might be, thereby disqualifying this line of reasoning (and anyway why should a doctor who performs abortions be lauded?) was one issue.