Ninth Circuit Rules Idaho’s Abortion Ban and Several Abortion Restrictions Unconstitutional

[niyad]

Ninth Circuit Rules Idaho’s Abortion Ban and Several Abortion Restrictions Unconstitutional


In a major victory for women’s reproductive rights, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last week upheld a lower court ruling striking down Idaho’s 20-week abortion ban, ruling that the law was “facially unconstitutional” because it banned abortions before viability, in direct violation of Roe v. Wade.




This is the second time the Ninth Circuit has ruled against a 20-week abortion ban. In 2013, the Ninth Circuit held that Arizona’s 20-week ban was unconstitutional. Arizona, in an attempt to challenge Roe v. Wade, asked the US Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision, but the Supreme Court declined review in January 2014.

Despite the unequivocal stance from the federal judiciary that 20-week abortion bans violate the US Constitution, the US House of Representatives passed a federal 20-week abortion ban last month by a 242-184 vote. The vote was mostly along party lines. At the time, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) summed up the measure as “another radical and unconstitutional effort to dismantle women’s right to comprehensive health care.”

In its opinion, the Ninth Circuit also found unconstitutional an Idaho provision that would require all second trimester abortions to be performed in a hospital and ruled that another provision was unconstitutionally vague. The latter provision would require first trimester abortions to be performed in a hospital, physician’s office, or clinic that is “properly staffed” and that has “satisfactory arrangements.”

The case, McCormack v. Herzog, arose after an Idaho woman, Jennie McCormack, a single mother of three, was arrested for inducing a medication abortion with mifepristone she obtained over the internet. According to McCormack, she opted to take the medication because she could not find a licensed abortion provider in southeastern Idaho, a state which was given a “failing grade” in clinic access and overall reproductive health care by the Population Institute last year.

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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2015/06/03/ninth-circuit-rules-idahos-abortion-ban-and-several-abortion-restrictions-unconstitutional/

[Novara]

1. These laws are always sruck down on this basis

I'd love to see a class action lawsuit against legislators by taxpayers for wasting our money on laws they damn well know will be struck down after a lot of money has been wasted trying to defend them. It's pure political theater. They know these laws won't stand. But we're paying for this circus.