Judge blocks North Dakota's restrictive abortion law

[Penny Lane 8,159]

(CNN) - One of the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S. was temporarily blocked from enforcement after a federal judge said Monday that North Dakota's pre-viability provisions were "invalid and unconstitutional."

The state legislature had passed a law that would ban an abortion when a fetal heartbeat was detected–sometimes as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The legislation was set to go into effect August 1, but Judge Daniel Hovland granted a temporary injunction, after a Fargo women's clinic filed a lawsuit last month.

The judge noted that the law would ban 90% of abortions performed at Red River Women's Clinic, North Dakota's only clinic that performs abortions. While proponents say the law enhances medical safety for women in the state, opponents argue it makes it nearly impossible for women to have an abortion.

In his decision, the judge said "there is no question" that the law known as HB 1456 directly contradicts a "litany" of Supreme Court cases that address restraints on abortion, including Roe v. Wade.

"The State of North Dakota has presented no evidence to justify the passage of this troubling law," he wrote. "The State has extended an invitation to an expensive court battle over a law restricting abortions that is a blatant violation of the constitutional guarantees afforded to all women."

With the law, North Dakota would have had the strictest limit in the country. A number of states have passed abortion bans after 20 weeks, such as Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Indiana and Alabama. Arkansas has a ban in place for pregnancies beyond 12 weeks.

Some states have no time limit, while others allow abortion up to the end of the second trimester, about 27 or 28 weeks into the pregnancy.

Abortion rights groups hailed the judge's order.

"The nation's most extreme abortion ban has been blocked, and the message to hostile politicians could not be clearer: the rights of women guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and protected by 40 years of Supreme Court precedent cannot be legislated away," said Bebe Anderson of Center for Reproductive Rights, which helped bring the lawsuit.

"Today's decision ensures for the moment that the women of North Dakota won't need to worry whether they will still have the same constitutionally protected rights as women living in other parts of the United States."

Proponents of the North Dakota bill anticipated the law would be challenged in the courts shortly after the legislation passed back in March.

When signing the bill, Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple acknowledged the law had a tough road ahead.

"Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade," the governor said in a statement, directing the legislature to set aside funds to cover the cost of the expected legal battle.

The state now has the option of asking a federal appeals court in St. Louis to step in and allow the law to go into effect while the court challenges continue, a process that could take several months. An eventual appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is a possibility.

The law would have targeted doctors rather than women having an abortion, with a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Doctors, if convicted, could also lose their license to practice medicine. Women who have the abortion may not be prosecuted.

While the law does not rule out abortions when a medical emergency threatens the life of a woman, it does not allow for an abortion in the case of rape or incest.

Abortion was legalized in all 50 states in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. Statutory time limits on when abortions can take place, however, vary from state to state.

For the justices, Roe reflected earlier cases involving the right to privacy. That "right," wrote Justice Harry Blackmun in the main opinion for the court, is "broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."

But the ruling was a qualified one, and that fact has been used by abortion opponents over the decades in their efforts to narrow the scope of other abortion provisions. Some activists have said they hope restrictions like those imposed by North Dakota would lead to a fundamental rethinking of access to abortion by the Supreme Court in coming years.

The "qualified right" established by the high court found its form in the controversial "trimester analysis" laid out by the justices in Roe: permitting no government regulation during the first three months of a pregnancy; allowing limited regulation in the second trimester to protect the woman's health and safety; and granting government the power to ban abortions during the third trimester - a time when, medical consensus has concluded, the fetus is capable of living on its own.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/22/judge-blocks-north-dakotas-restrictive-abortion-law/?hpt=hp_t2

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

This topic contains no mention of guns, thugs or Zimmerman, and is about women's reproductive rights. It should be moved from Politics and Religion.

[RGinWA 816]

Why can't you little ladies just let us make choices for your reproductive needs?

You know how you can get...

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Why can't you little ladies just let us make choices for your reproductive needs?

You know how you can get...

You know the drill.Stay out of my womb.. I demand you pay for my choices.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

You know the drill.Stay out of my womb.. I demand you pay for my choices.

Please state how I am demanding that you pay for my reproductive choices.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Please state how I am demanding that you pay for my reproductive choices.

You didn't know that all women did that? Shame on you. Educate yourself.

[RGinWA 816]

You didn't know that all women did that? Shame on you. Educate yourself.

If we didn't pay for it we'd all have penthouses and hot rods.

It's a well known fact.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

If we didn't pay for it we'd all have penthouses and hot rods.

It's a well known fact.

Since we use Natural Family Planning, I want my Obamabucks to be spent on a nice bottle of Zinfandel and a steak dinner to get us in the mood.

[RGinWA 816]

Since we use Natural Family Planning, I want my Obamabucks to be spent on a nice bottle of Zinfandel and a steak dinner to get us in the mood.

Approved. Box of free stuff is in the mail. Thanks for voting.

The Obama Family...

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

Since we use Natural Family Planning, I want my Obamabucks to be spent on a nice bottle of Zinfandel and a steak dinner to get us in the mood.

sorry, you make too much money. all you qualify for is some cheap champagne and a mcd's voucher.

Edited July 22, 2013 by charles!

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

sorry, you make too much money. all you qualify for is some cheap champagne and a mcd's voucher.

Maybe THAT'S where Kip got his bottles of Freixenet.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

You didn't know that all women did that? Shame on you. Educate yourself.

Show me where I said all women. I hate it when people attribute things to me I did not say

As Fred Flintstone said " Caba Caba doooooo" or something like that

If we didn't pay for it we'd all have penthouses and hot rods.

It's a well known fact.

I have been lost in thought ever since you said 8 ball and hookers.

It's kind of like juicing and someone breaks out the brownies

[RGinWA 816]

Show me where I said all women. I hate it when people attribute things to me I did not say

As Fred Flintstone said " Caba Caba doooooo" or something like that

I have been lost in thought ever since you said 8 ball and hookers.

It's kind of like juicing and someone breaks out the brownies

See what happens when you're in your 20's in the 80's? Sad isn't it...lol

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

See what happens when you're in your 20's in the 80's? Sad isn't it...lol

Ahh the 80's work like a dog all week just to blow it on the weekends. No pun intended.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Y'all are old.