NRL News
Page 23
May 2007
Volume 34
Issue 5

Courts to Reconsider State Partial-Birth Abortion Bans
By Liz Townsend

In the wake of its decision upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered two appeals courts to reconsider their rulings striking down similar bans in Missouri and Virginia.

The High Court’s April 23 order means that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which overturned Virginia’s partial-birth abortion ban in 2005, and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down Missouri’s law that same year, must take a new look at the laws based on the ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart. As of press time, the appeals courts have not yet announced a schedule for rehearing the cases.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon asked the appeals court to lift its injunction against the law, which would allow it to go into effect right away, according to the Associated Press (AP).

“Missouri’s ban on partial birth abortion has already spent too much time in the courts,” said Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, according to the AP, “and I am hopeful the 8th Circuit will act soon, follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s lead, and affirm Missouri’s ban of this barbaric procedure.”

Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell (R) also applauded the Supreme Court’s ruling. “The Supreme Court’s decision, which is grounded in sound constitutional interpretation, recognizes the dignity of human life,” McDonnell said in a press release. “Given that the federal act has been upheld, I am confident that the similarly worded Virginia Partial Birth Infanticide Act will also be upheld.”

Other states may also choose to pass laws banning partial-birth abortion in light of the Supreme Court decision. “Now it is a federal crime to kill an unborn child by partial-birth abortion, but the only people who can prosecute such cases are federal prosecutors,” Mary Spaulding Balch, NRLC director of state legislation, told NRL News. “A state can also pass a law so state prosecutors can enforce it. But it is clear that anyone who does a partial-birth abortion does so at his own peril.”