Case: Planned Parenthood Great Northwest v. Alaska

This case is a challenge to an Alaskan law restricting who could provide abortion care.

On December 12, 2019, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands (“Planned Parenthood”) filed a lawsuit in a state superior court, challenging an Alaska and Board of Nursing policy (collectively, the “APC Ban”) that barred advanced practice clinicians (“APCs”) from providing abortion care. APCs encompass advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants. Represented by in-house counsel, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Legal Voice, and private counsel, Planned Parenthood sued Alaska, as well as the members of the Alaska State Medical Board and Alaska State Board of Nursing (collectively, “Alaska”). 

Planned Parenthood argued that the APC Ban was medically unjustified, out of step with Alaska’s treatment of comparable health care services, and constrained access to abortion and miscarriage care for Alaskans. It alleged that the Ban violated patients’ right to privacy, right to medical and reproductive autonomy, and right to equal protection under the Alaska Constitution. Additionally, Planned Parenthood alleged that the APC Ban violated its own equal protection rights under the Alaska Constitution. It sought declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as attorneys’ fees. 

The case was originally set for trial on August 16 2021, but Alaska obtained a continuance and the trial was rescheduled for July, 2022. Accordingly, on June 21, 2021, Planned Parenthood filed a motion for preliminary injunction; it sought a limited injunction that would allow APCs to provide medication abortion.

Superior Court Judge Josie Garton granted the injunction on November 2nd. Judge Garton found that Planned Parenthood was likely to succeed on its claim that the APC Ban violated patients’ right to privacy, as it significantly restricted availability to abortions without sufficient justification, and patients’ right to equal protection, as patients seeking abortion care could not receive care from APCs that patients experiencing miscarriage care could. 

On August 1, 2022 Alaska and Planned Parenthood filed separate motions for summary judgment. The next spring, on May 23, Superior Judge Garton denied both motions, holding that there were questions of fact regarding whether the APC Ban burdened the right to privacy or violated the right to equal protection. 

The superior court held a five-day bench trial from November 13 to 17, 2023. After trial, both parties filed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. 

On September 4, 2024, Superior Court Judge Garton permanently enjoined the APC ban, thereby allowing qualified APCs to provide medication and aspiration abortion. In the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the court explained that the APC Ban burdened reproductive choice by increasing patients’ barriers to accessing abortion. It also caused similarly situated patients to be treated unequally: pregnant patients seeking abortion care were treated differently than both pregnant patients seeking miscarriage management and pregnant patients seeking other types of medical care. Since Alaska had not demonstrated a compelling medical, safety, or public welfare interest in prohibiting upholding the ban, the court held that the APC Ban violated patients’ rights to equal protection and to privacy. As well, the court held that the APC Ban violates the equal protection rights of APCs by prohibiting them from providing care within their scope of practice.

Alaska appealed the superior court’s judgment to the Alaska Supreme Court. Planned Parenthood filed its brief with the Alaska Supreme Court on June 4, 2025 and, as of September 20, the case is pending before the Court.