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Late-Term Abortions Protected in Virginia and in England
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has deemed Virginia’s 2003 law banning late-term abortions unconstitutional. England voted against lowering the legal cutoff on abortion to 22 weeks.
30-Second Summary
A three-judge panel of the Virginia court made the decision in a 2-1 vote. The ruling “is aimed at a little-used, late-term abortion procedure,” reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
This is the second time the court has struck down the law; in 2005, Judges M. Blane Michael and Diana Gribbon Motz ruled the law unconstitutional. They voted the same way Wednesday.
Last year the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar federal law, and told the Richmond-based court to reconsider its 2005 ruling. But Michael wrote that Virginia’s law differs from the federal law because it does not protect doctors who set out to perform standard, second-trimester abortions that accidentally turn into the kind barred by law, known by abortion opponents as “partial-birth abortions.”
Judge Paul V. Niemeyer strongly disagreed, writing, “once again, the choice made by the majority to strike down Virginia’s partial-birth infanticide statute is not compelled by the Constitution or by any Supreme Court case.”
The decision also came a day after Britain’s Parliament voted not to cut the upper limit of abortions from 24 weeks of gestation to 22. Tory MP Nadine Dorries had proposed a 20-week limit, but her plan was defeated 332 votes to 190. The move to propose a 22-week limit was also voted down 304 to 233.
This is the second time the court has struck down the law; in 2005, Judges M. Blane Michael and Diana Gribbon Motz ruled the law unconstitutional. They voted the same way Wednesday.
Last year the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar federal law, and told the Richmond-based court to reconsider its 2005 ruling. But Michael wrote that Virginia’s law differs from the federal law because it does not protect doctors who set out to perform standard, second-trimester abortions that accidentally turn into the kind barred by law, known by abortion opponents as “partial-birth abortions.”
Judge Paul V. Niemeyer strongly disagreed, writing, “once again, the choice made by the majority to strike down Virginia’s partial-birth infanticide statute is not compelled by the Constitution or by any Supreme Court case.”
The decision also came a day after Britain’s Parliament voted not to cut the upper limit of abortions from 24 weeks of gestation to 22. Tory MP Nadine Dorries had proposed a 20-week limit, but her plan was defeated 332 votes to 190. The move to propose a 22-week limit was also voted down 304 to 233.
Headline Links: Virginia strikes down late-term ban; England upholds abortion laws
Virginia now has 14 days to request that the entire 4th Circuit Court hear the case or 90 days to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal. Victoria Cobb, president of the anti-abortion Family Foundation, said, “It is disappointing that yet again just two people can thwart the will of the people, the action of a legislature, and simple justice for nearly born children.” She said she hopes a higher court will reverse the panel’s ruling.
Source: The Richmond Times Dispatch
England’s Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo, said that there was no evidence requiring the abortion laws to be changed: “The upper gestational limit for termination of pregnancy was set by Parliament in 1990 at 24 weeks because the scientific evidence of the time was that the threshold of viability had increased and babies were increasingly surviving at 24 weeks and above. That was the case in 1990 and it’s certainly the case now.”
Source: The BBC
Background: The 2005 Virginia decision
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban on the same abortion law in 2005, because it lacked an exception for a circumstance when the procedure is necessary to protect a woman’s health.
Source: St. Petersburg Times (Associated Press)
Related Topic: Abortion in America
An April 2006 USA Today article analyzed what would happen in various states should Roe v. Wade—the Supreme Court decision that overturned all laws outlawing and restricting abortion—be overturned. According to the story, 16 states would be likely to protect abortion access, 22 would be likely to significantly restrict abortion access and 12 states would fall somewhere in the middle.
Source: USA Today
In 2006, abortion rights activists across the country spoke out when South Dakota lawmakers made history by signing an abortion ban. Voters later overturned the decision. Once again, a measure that would ban most abortions in the state will be on the general election ballot on November 4, “the second time in two years that voters will decide the fate of abortion in the Mount Rushmore State,” writes the Associated Press.
Source: The Sioux Falls Argus Leader (Associated Press)
Reference: The Virginia court’s decision
The full opinion from the Virginia court is available on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Web site in PDF form.
Source: The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (PDF)
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