Dorsey partner Timothy Branson discussed in the New York Times the 2005 South Dakota law requiring a doctor to inform patients that "an abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." Branson and Dorsey partner Michael Drysdale are representing Planned Parenthood in a pro bono constitutional challenge to the law.
Branson said that South Dakota is free to enunciate a viewpoint on abortion. "If the state wants to have a billboard, good for the state." Requiring doctors to act as its publicity agents on the issue, however, would effectively hijack the doctor-patient relationship.
For more on the case, see here.
"Putting the Government's Words in the Doctor's Mouth" was published by the New York Times, August 6, 2007.