SCOTUS Taking Up Constititutionality Of Late Term Abortion Bans

[Annie]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/21/D8FTIU003.html

Supreme Court Plunges Into Abortion Debate
Feb 21 10:17 AM US/Eastern
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By GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will consider the constitutionality of banning a type of late-term abortion, teeing up a contentious issue for a newly-constituted court already in a state of flux over privacy rights.

The Bush administration has pressed the high court to reinstate the federal law, passed in 2003 but never put in effect because it was struck down by judges in California, Nebraska and New York.

The outcome will likely rest with the two men that President Bush has recently installed on the court. Justices had been split 5-4 in 2000 in striking down a state law, barring what critics call partial birth abortion because it lacked an exception to protect the health of the mother.

But Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was the tie-breaking vote, retired late last month and was replaced by Samuel Alito. Abortion had been a major focus in the fight over Alito's nomination because justices serve for life and he will surely help shape the court on abortion and other issues for the next generation.

Alito, in his rulings on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, has been more willing than O'Connor, the first woman justice, to allow restrictions on abortions, which were legalized in the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

The federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act prohibits a certain type of abortion, generally carried out in the second or third trimester, in which a fetus is partially removed from the womb, and the skull is punctured or crushed.

Justices on a 9-0 vote vote in a New Hampshire case reaffirmed in January that states can require parental involvement in abortion decisions and that state restrictions must have an exception to protect the mother's health.

The federal law in the current case has no health exception, but defenders maintain that the procedure is never medically necessary to protect a woman's health.

 

[Nienna]

Okay, we all saw this coming, right?
Waiting with bated breath.

 

[krisy]

If the mother's health is in jeopardy,and she's late term in her pregnancy,and the real reason to abort is the mother's health and not because she doesn't want the baby,then why don't they do C sections and do what they have to to keep the child alive? If the baby is late term,it will have a good chance with today's medicine.

I would just like to know an example of when an actual late term abortion is needed to save mom,as opposed to a C section and a good effort to save baby.

I hope the Supreme Court will rake this over.

 

[Bonnie]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/21/D8FTIU003.html

The wheels have started turning...Say some prayers it becomes a landslide..........

 

[Bonnie]

If the mother's health is in jeopardy,and she's late term in her pregnancy,and the real reason to abort is the mother's health and not because she doesn't want the baby,then why don't they do C sections and do what they have to to keep the child alive? If the baby is late term,it will have a good chance with today's medicine.

I would just like to know an example of when an actual late term abortion is needed to save mom,as opposed to a C section and a good effort to save baby.

I hope the Supreme Court will rake this over.

Glad you made this point, I was wondering the same.

 

[Mr. P]

If the mother's health is in jeopardy,and she's late term in her pregnancy,and the real reason to abort is the mother's health and not because she doesn't want the baby,then why don't they do C sections and do what they have to to keep the child alive? If the baby is late term,it will have a good chance with today's medicine.

I would just like to know an example of when an actual late term abortion is needed to save mom,as opposed to a C section and a good effort to save baby.

I hope the Supreme Court will rake this over.

(E) The physician credited with developing the partial-birth abortion procedure has testified that he has never encountered a situation where a partial-birth abortion was medically necessary to achieve the desired outcome and, thus, is never medically necessary to preserve the health of a woman.

Everyone should read the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003..........
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/abortion/2003s3.html

 

[krisy]

Everyone should read the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003..........
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/abortion/2003s3.html

Thanks,P. I will read it over now.

 

[Avatar4321]

Considering Roe v Wade never even allowed late term abortions to begin with, I don't think this is going to be a huge deal that everyone thinks. it will be progress though.

 

[Abbey Normal]

Considering Roe v Wade never even allowed late term abortions to begin with, I don't think this is going to be a huge deal that everyone thinks. it will be progress though.

I understand what you are saying from a legal pov, but I think it will be a huge deal with the pro-choice crowd. They will go nuts, chanting "slippery slope", and "keep your laws off my body" until they're blue in the face.

 

[Nienna]

I think it will be a huge deal with the pro-choice crowd. They will go nuts, chanting "slippery slope", and "keep your laws off my body" until the're blue in the face.

I was thinking the same thing, Abbey. I don't think for a moment the pro-abortion crowd would just let it slip through without a fight.

 

[deaddude]

Personally I am for this, partial birth abortion is barbaric. Of course there was an easier way to do this, just tack a "with exception to endangering the life of the mother" clause onto the original law.

 

[5stringJeff]

Personally I am for this, partial birth abortion is barbaric. Of course there was an easier way to do this, just tack a "with exception to endangering the life of the mother" clause onto the original law.

I think they've shown that there is never a reason why they must perform a PBA to save a mother's life, so they wouldn't need that clause.

 

[deaddude]

If there is never a case where a PBA is the only procedure that can save the life of the mother than it never has my support. End of story.

 

[5stringJeff]

If there is never a case where a PBA is the only procedure that can save the life of the mother than it never has my support. End of story.

 

[William Joyce]

Considering Roe v Wade never even allowed late term abortions to begin with, I don't think this is going to be a huge deal that everyone thinks. it will be progress though.

A point often missed.

I was surprised in law school to read statutes in New York criminalizing abortion... they're still there... only for late-term.