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 Health & Beauty | April 2007 
US Ban on Late-Term Abortion is Upheld
 Kansas City Star
| | Pro-life protester Caleb Brown prays outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC. The US Supreme Court backtracked on abortion rights for the first time in more than a generation on Wednesday, upholding a federal law restricting access to a rare but controversial late-term abortion procedure. (AFP/Jonathan Ernst) |
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal ban on a late-term abortion procedure Wednesday, giving abortion opponents a significant victory and laying bare the court's split over the volatile issue.
In a 5-4 decision the court ruled the ban, signed by President Bush in 2003, does not present an undue burden to women seeking abortion as it doesn't affect other abortion procedures.
'The State may use its regulatory power to bar certain procedures and substitute others, all in furtherance of its legitimate interests in regulating the medical profession in order to promote respect for life, including life of the unborn,' read the 5-4 opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Abortion opponents hailed their biggest legal victory in years as a necessary step in someday overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion. Abortion-rights groups called it a dangerous precedent that puts politicians between a woman and her physician.
On Wednesday, Bush responded to the ruling, saying it 'affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America.'
The ban prohibits a particular late-term abortion procedure that critics call partial-birth abortion. The procedure involves crushing or puncturing the skull of the fetus once most of it is already outside the uterus. Supporters of the ban said that's too close to infanticide, but some physicians argued that while rarely used, it can be the safest means of aborting a late-term pregnancy.
The banned procedure constitutes only a tiny fraction of the 1.3 million abortions performed each year in the U.S. Abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood and physician George Tiller's Wichita clinic, which specializes in late-term abortions, say they don't use the procedure. Kansas health records show the procedure hasn't been used in the state since 1999.
The ruling 'actually doesn't change anything about the vast majority of procedures,' said Lawrence Friedman, a constitutional law expert at the New England School of Law.
The opinion is notable in that it upholds a law that does not contain a broad exception for the health of the women. The law does allow the procedure if the woman's life is at risk, but doesn't allow greater exceptions for non-lethal physical and mental health.
The ruling is likely to energize attempts to add abortion restrictions in Topeka and Jefferson City.
'It shows how important it is to have the right president and the right Supreme Court justices in place,' said Mary Kay Culp, who's worked on anti-abortion causes in both states and is now director of Kansans for Life. 'It shows why that's worth fighting for.'
Challenges to the ban began as soon as it was signed into law in 2003. Lower courts ruled the ban violated a woman's right to an abortion. Abortion-rights groups argued the ban was overly vague and flawed as it contained only a narrow exception when a woman's life was at risk.
Similar state bans -- including one from Missouri -- were blocked in the past for failing to include health exceptions. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Nebraska ban in 2000.
This time, the conservatives on the court had the edge. Wednesday's ruling fell along the conservative-liberal split on the high court. Joining Kennedy in the majority were Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Antonin Scalia and Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.
In his opinion, Kennedy said the state can regulate medical procedures so long as it does so without putting an undue burden on the patient or the physician. As other abortion procedures are still allowed, the ban does not present an undue burden, Kennedy wrote.
In a dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the decision 'alarming.'
'For the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a woman's health,' she wrote.
The question of whether health exceptions create ways around abortion restrictions has been prominent in Kansas. Anti-abortion groups and many lawmakers say the state's late-term abortion law allows too many abortions for bogus mental health claims.
But lawmakers' efforts to close the loophole have always been stymied by earlier rulings by the Supreme Court requiring broad health exceptions. Wednesday's ruling might offer an alternative precedent, and that worries abortion providers.
Peter Brownlie, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, called the ruling 'very troubling.' His group operates abortion clinics in Kansas and Missouri.
'This gives politicians the ability to legislate medical practice, which is extremely dangerous, in our states (of Missouri and Kansas) in particular,' Brownlie said. 'It opens the door to further restrictions, and we have folks in Kansas and Missouri that will do everything they can to not only kick the door open but rip the hinges off, too.'
Indeed, conservative lawmakers in both states said they'll look to the ruling to see if the high court might allow greater state-based restrictions.
Rep. Lance Kinzer, an Olathe Republican, said the ruling would be important 'in knowing where the lines are.'
In a written statement, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt called on lawmakers to 'send me strong pro-life legislation this year ... that reflects the values of Missourians, respects the sanctity of all human life and will ultimately help to reduce the number of abortions.'
Missouri Sen. Matt Bartle, a Lee's Summit Republican, said he was 'elated' with the opinion.
'After waiting for years ... it appears there is finally a pro-life majority on that court,' he said. 'I think this bodes well not only for pro-life issues, but for conservative issues in general.'
CHANGE IN MEXICO?
Mexico City's legislative assembly is to vote Tuesday on a bill that would decriminalize abortion in the city of 9 million. And it appears to have a good chance of passing. |
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