The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of a nationwide ban on partial birth abortion.
From Bloomberg:
The justices, voting 5-4, refused to invalidate the 2003 law even though it lacks an exception for cases posing a risk to the mother's health. The court also rejected claims that the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act is so vaguely worded it would force doctors to forgo a commonly used, constitutionally protected abortion technique for fear of prosecution.
The 5-4 split was along (mostly) predictable lines.
Interestingly, however, Judge Kennedy, who was the swing vote in 1992's Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision which preserved the "right" of abortion. In my mind, this lends support to what I and some others believed last year during the Referred Law 6 fight: that Kennedy might just swing back around and uphold RL6. (Kennedy was expected to overturn Roe in the Casey decision, but switched his vote in the end).
To see what it took four years of court fighting--and before that, many years of indecision in Congress--to now outlaw, go to this page at the National Right to Life website. Or for a video illustrating this barbaric procedure, go here.
0 comments:
Post a Comment