The Oklahoma law that would force the public posting of women who obtained abortions that was set to go into effect November 1, 2009 has been successfully challenged in court. For now, the law has been blocked until a February 19 hearing.

“We are very pleased with today’s ruling. This law is a profound intrusion on women’s privacy and a waste of taxpayers’ money,” attorney Jennifer Mondino of the Center for Reproductive Rights said in a written statement. The New York-based center had filed a suit on behalf of former state Rep. Wanda Jo Stapleton and another Oklahoma resident.

“Women in Oklahoma should not have to jump through hoops to access legal medical care and the government has no business violating the state constitution to impose those obstacles,” Mondino said.

The law, passed in May, requires doctors to fill out a 10-page questionnaire for every abortion performed, including asking the woman about her age, marital status, race and years of education. In all, there are 37 questions the women are to answer.

This law is misguided because the lawmakers never took into account the fact that the women obtaining abortions could be identified or misidentified by the information that would be made public. If the law stands, it would go into effect March 1, 2011 at which time all women in Oklahoma would simply drive over the border to neighboring states to obtain abortions.

Regardless of your views on abortion, it is a medical procedure and should remain confidential. Placing abortion information and statistics online only serves to ostracize women from their communities.