Case: Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest v. Streur

This is a case about abortion funding restrictions in Alaska. On January 30, 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit in Alaska Superior Court (state trial court) on behalf of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest in order to challenge Regulation 7 AAC 160.900(d)(30), a new regulation that allegedly severely restricted abortion access for low-income women. The plaintiffs sued the State of Alaska's Department of Health and Human Services alleging violations of the Alaska Constitution and Alaska Administrative Procedure Act. Planned Parenthood sought declaratory judgment, attorneys' costs and fees, and a temporary and permanent injunction against the funding-restriction regulation.

In 2013, the Alaska Department of Health passed Regulation 7 AAC 160.900(d)(30) and scheduled it to take effect on February 2, 2014. In 2001 the Alaska Supreme Court held that Medicaid, the state health insurance that covers mostly low-income residents, was required to fund medically necessary abortions in Alaska so long as Alaska funded other medically necessary procedures for pregnant women. Department of Health and Human Services v. Planned Parenthood of Alaska. However, the new 2013 regulation attempted to circumvent this prior ruling by narrowing the definition of "medical necessity" to necessary to "avoid a threat of serious risk to the physical health of the woman . . . due to impairment of a major bodily function." The regulation also restricted funded abortions to a set of specifically enumerated physical and psychiatric medical conditions, rather than letting doctors use their individual judgment as they had been able to do previously. Planned Parenthood argued that the new regulation would negatively impact many low-income women and argued it violated the Alaska Constitution (specifically, its Equal Protection Clause, right to privacy, and right to health) and Alaska's Administrative Procedure Act.

On February 4, 2014, Judge Suddock granted Planned Parenthood its temporary restraining order, which the parties agreed to have automatically converted to a preliminary injunction. While the rest of the case was pending, Alaska passed AS 47.07.068, a statute that would codify the regulation. AS 47.07.068 was narrow, like the regulation, but also further excluded psychiatric conditions from "necessity" (where the regulation had included them). On May 5, 2014, Planned Parenthood amended its complaint to also challenge this statute and ask for it to be preliminarily and permanently enjoined.  On July 15, 2014, Judge Suddock extended his same reasoning in order to also preliminarily enjoin the statute.

On August 27, 2015, the Judge ruled that AS 47.07.068 and 7 AAC 160.90(d)(30) violated the Equal Protection Clause of Alaska's Constitution because these regulations did not fund abortions for serious physical or mental risks to the woman that did not rise to the new definition of "medical necessity," and simultaneously, because the state could not sufficiently justify these exclusions. Further, the Judge's opinion noted that the new regulations did not fund solutions to fetal anomalies and indirectly required that juveniles on Medicaid seek parental consent for abortions. Judge Suddock permanently enjoined the enforcement of the regulation and statute. 2015 WL 9898581. 

The State appealed the case. On February 15, 2019, the Supreme Court of Alaska affirmed the superior court's decision and reasoning. Four Justices agreed and Chief Justice Stowers dissented. 436 P.3d 984. The State was ultimately ordered to pay over $780,000 in attorney’s fees and costs.