Planned Parenthood v. Rounds

Planned Parenthood v. Rounds (686 F.3d 889 (8th Cir. 2012) (en banc)) was a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that upheld a provision of a South Dakota law that requires a doctor to inform a patient, prior to providing an abortion, that one of the "known medical risks of the procedure and statistically significant risk factors" is an "increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide."

The district court, in setting the initial injunction against enforcing this law, relied on studies that showed some correlation between abortion and suicide, but showed no evidence that an abortion causes a woman to be at greater risk for suicide. Rather, the studies indicated that the same factors that cause a woman to seek an abortion, like emotional distress, domestic violence and socioeconomic disadvantage, also make them more likely to be depressed and suicidal. The scientific consensus is that abortion does not increase the risk of any mental health problems.

The Eighth Circuit noted that states may mandate disclosures as part of obtaining informed consent, so long as those disclosures are neither false nor misleading. The Eighth Circuit acknowledged that the record did not support an inference that abortion causes suicide. However, the court said that the South Dakota law does not require doctors to inform women that abortion causes suicide; it requires only that women hear that abortion is associated with an increased risk of suicide, and as used in its scientific sense, “association” does not imply causation.

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