Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Christian communities and leaders filed a amicus brief  in federal district court last Monday that supports the Oklahoma governor’s executive order that suspends all elective surgeries, including elective abortions, until April 30 to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Gov. Kevin Stitt’s order exempts non-elective abortions, but some abortionists in the state demanded that he carve out a special exception for elective abortions while all other elective surgeries are put on hold.

On April 6, the federal court issued a temporary restraining order that allows abortions to continue in only some circumstances through April 20. The court can either let the order expire or address the situation again at that time.

“Getting an abortion has never been an absolute right. The coronavirus didn’t suddenly turn it into one,” said ADF Legal Counsel Elissa Graves. “How is it that abortions are so special that they should be allowed to continue during the coronavirus crisis while all other elective surgeries – not to mention a vast array of other activities – are suspended? The answer is that they should be subject to the governor’s order as much as any other voluntary surgical procedure. Abortionists who seek to put their profit ahead of the well-being of women and staff who could be affected by COVID-19 shouldn’t be allowed to get away with their irresponsible demands.”

The brief also explains that abortionists seeking to be exempt from the order don’t have sufficient legal standing to challenge the order in the first place. The abortionists “are not women protected by these laws and do not qualify for third-party standing to represent them,” the brief says, adding that the abortionists’ “interest in not being regulated by the Executive Order conflicts with the interest of women seeking safe medical services.”

Attorney General Mike Hunter last Tuesday appealed the lower court’s temporary restraining order that allowed abortions to continue during a health emergency. Hunter filed the appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit seeking a stay of the temporary restraining order.

The Center for Reproductive Rights and abortion clinics got a temporary restraining order on April 6. From U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin.