Reproductive Rights Prof Blog

Republicans Face Abortion Issue at RNC

MarketWatch (WSJ): Palin's Daughter's Pregnancy Puts Abortion in Spotlight:

Family-values voters have a lot to digest as the Republican national convention gets under way. Sen. John McCain’s newly chosen running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, said Monday that her 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant and plans to both keep the baby and marry the father...

The timing of the announcement also comes as Republicans gather to ratify their positions on controversial issues such as abortion, which isn’t unanimous within the party....

One of the items on Monday’s agenda is solidifying the party platform, which includes a harder line on abortion than even McCain has taken. The platform calls for opposing it in all cases and supporting a constitutional ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest or threats to the life of the mother, a position Palin supports.

Palin may appeal to social conservatives and the religious right, but her pro-life stance likely will prove too extreme to lure many of the disaffected Hillary Clinton primary voters McCain is angling for. Female voters who want to uphold Roe vs. Wade may not be as moved by the Palin family’s personal choices and may see them as the exception and not the rule when it comes to their ability to avoid a cycle of poverty that unwanted pregnancy often begins or continues.

See also New York Times: Palin Daughter's Pregnancy Interrupts Script, by Monica Davey:

In 2002, when Ms. Palin was completing her second and final term as mayor, her husband’s stepmother, Faye Palin, began campaigning to succeed her. Faye Palin, though, favored abortion rights, people who recalled the race said, and Ms. Palin sided instead with Dianne M. Keller, a City Council member who won the race and remains mayor there today.

Proposed South Dakota Abortion Ban Invokes Discredited "Post-Abortion Syndrome" Claim

The discredited claim that abortion causes mental trauma (see previous post) is one of the arguments being used to bolster a ballot initiative that will go before South Dakota voters this fall.  The proposed measure would ban all abortions except in cases of rape or incest or where the abortion would cause the woman's death or grave physical harm.  Here's a paragraph from an anti-choice strategy memo supporting the measure (emphasis added):

The 2005 HB 1233 [South Dakota] Task Force Bill has resulted in powerful and factually accurate findings concerning how abortion has harmed the rights, interests and health of women. It is a second tool, and taken together, the Informed Consent Law, the litigation and its defense, and the TASK FORCE REPORT form a solid foundation for the proposed Abortion Bill.

The initiative itself states that "abortion subjects the pregnant woman to significant psychological and physical health risks."  (The full text is available here.)

See also Medical News Today: Opponents Of South Dakota Abortion Ban Launch Campaign:

Opponents of a South Dakota abortion ban ballot proposal launched a national campaign Tuesday that aims to defeat the measure, the AP/Yankton Press and Dakotan reports (Jalonick, AP/Yankton Press and Dakotan, 8/13). The proposal, which will be on the state's ballot in November, would ban abortions except in cases of rape or incest, to save a woman's life or a "substantial and irreversible" health risk of impairment to "a major bodily organ or system" (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/12).

Fourth Circuit Accepts En Banc Review of Virginia "Partial-Birth Abortion" Ban

Via How Appealing: "Federal appeals court to review Va. abortion ban":

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a news update that begins, "The full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear a challenge to Virginia's ban on a late-term abortion procedure. On two occasions a three-judge panel of the same court ruled 2-1 that the challenge was successful -- that the Virginia ban on what opponents call 'partial-birth abortion' was unconstitutional."

The Associated Press reports that "Full court will consider Virginia ban on 'partial-birth abortion.'"

And at "SCOTUSblog," Lyle Denniston has a post titled "A new test of a 'partial-birth' abortion ban."

My earlier coverage of the Fourth Circuit's most recent three-judge panel ruling in the case appears here, here, and here.

South Dakota Abortion Propaganda Law Takes Effect

Wash. Post: Ruling Gives South Dakota Doctors a Script to Read, by Peter Slevin:

CHICAGO -- In a victory for antiabortion forces, doctors in South Dakota are now required to tell a woman seeking an abortion that the procedure "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit last week lifted a preliminary injunction that prevented the language from taking effect. A spokesman for Planned Parenthood, which runs the state's only abortion clinic, said doctors will begin reciting the script to patients as early as this week.

On another front, South Dakota voters will be asked in a Nov. 4 referendum to consider broad limits on abortion for the second time since 2006. The ballot measure includes exceptions for rape, incest and the woman's health that were not part of the 2006 wording rejected by voters.

Antiabortion forces in South Dakota have been trying for years to halt the procedure and to build a winnable challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide....

Nan Hunter (Hunter of Justice) writes:

The measure on the SD ballot in November, Initiative 2-7, would ban all abortions except for those:

in which the pregnancy results from rape or incest, provided the abortion occurs prior to the end of the 20th week gestation and the physician reports the rape or incest to law enforcement, identifying the woman and the perpetrator if possible; or

where the abortion “is necessary to avert the death of the pregnant woman”; or

where the abortion “is necessary because there is a serious risk of a substantial and irreversible impairment of the functioning of a major bodily organ or system of the pregnant woman should the pregnancy be continued.”

This initiative is the second attempt by anti-choice forces in the state, where voters in 2006 rejected a proposal to ban abortions with no health, rape or incest exceptions.The strategy behind the new proposal is laid out in a chilling memo from anti-choice strategists  as the best way to overturn Roe and Casey. The key to their approach is grounding the initiative in a "legitimate exercise of the State's power to prohibit abortion in order to protect, not just the life of the unborn child, but the interests, rights and health of their pregnant mothers." (p. 8) In other words, to protect women from the "severe depression and loss of esteem [that] can follow" an abortion, as the Supreme Court declared in Gonzalez v. Carhart, 127 S. Ct at 1634.

This new "woman protective abortion amendment" strategy, to use Reva Siegel's phrase, is where the anti-choice movement is heading, and the SD vote in November is the tip of the spear. Reva has an article forthcoming in Duke Law Journal  tracing the political history of the strategy, from pregnancy "counseling centers" to government reports to legislation.

If the SD initiative passes, we will see similar laws pop up around the country.  And four years from now, give or take, we may see five Justices of the Supreme Court uphold it.

Joshua E. Perry on the Biopolitics of Gonzales v. Carhart

Joshua E. Perry (Vanderbilt University Medical Center) has posted Partial Birth Biopolitics on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

The United States Supreme Court decision in Gonzales v. Carhart upheld the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban of 2003, despite the law's failure to include an exception for the health of the mother. This paper argues that the Court's decision in Carhart opens new doors for future politicized governmental interference in the lives of patients and their doctors. Those concerned with biopolitics, the use of governmental power to regulate and control the personal and private space of one's health care decisions, have new reasons to be worried about the future of reproductive freedoms and the exercise of clinical medical judgment.

In Countries Where Abortion Is Illegal, Desperate Women Turn to Internet

The Press Association: Fear Over Abortion Pills Website:

Women living in countries where abortion is restricted - including Northern Ireland - are using the internet to buy medication enabling them to perform an abortion at home, it emerged.

A medical study found more than one in 10 customers on one of the most well-known websites needed a surgical procedure after taking the medication.

Women in more than 70 countries, including Northern Ireland, have used the internet site Women on Web to purchase the drugs for £55 a time. Anti-abortion campaigners have labelled the development "worrying".

Abortion Becomes Less Taboo in the Middle East

L.A. Times: Number of Abortions Rising in Middle East, experts say, by Borzou Daragahi:

BEIRUT -- Unmarried and pregnant, Ranya gathered up her courage and confided to a friend that she was considering a drastic step: an illegal abortion.

She braced for criticism. But to her surprise, her friend disclosed that she had had one too....

Despite legal and religious restrictions against abortion in much of the Arab world, changing social values and economic realities as well as demographic shifts have contributed to an apparent increase in the number of the procedures in the Middle East.

"There's definitely an increase compared to 10 to 15 years ago," said Mohammed Graigaa, executive director of the Moroccan Assn. for Family Planning. "Abortion is much less of a taboo. It's much more visible. Doctors talk about it. Women talk about it. The moral values of people have changed."

Romania: 11-Year-Old Incest Victim Permitted Abortion

BBC News: Romanian girl permitted abortion:

An 11-year-old Romanian girl who is 21 weeks pregnant after being raped by an uncle will be able to have an abortion, even though it is forbidden by law.                   

A government committee said the procedure should go ahead due to the exceptional circumstances of her case.                   

Romanian Government to Decide on Abortion for 11-Year-Old Incest Victim

China Daily: Romanian gov't to decide on 11-year-old girl abortion:

BUCHAREST, Romania  -- Romania's health minister said Wednesday a government committee will decide this week whether an 11-year-old who was raped by her uncle can go to Britain for an abortion or must continue the pregnancy.

The case, which surfaced earlier this month, has bitterly divided the medical community, child rights groups and the public.

The girl is 20 weeks pregnant, which is over the legal limit for abortions in Romania.

Survey Shows Majorities Worldwide Oppose Criminalizing Abortion

AlterNet: Criminal Penalties for Abortion Rejected Across the Globe, by Jill Filipovic:

When you live in a country where abortion rights remain a contentious issue in every election and anti-choice activists are emboldened enough to demonstrate against the birth control pill, there are a lot of reasons to be pessimistic about the future of reproductive freedom. But internationally, there's a glimmer of good news: Around the globe, individual citizens support abortion rights, even when their own governments criminalize abortion.

The Program on International Policy Attitudes surveyed men and women in 18 countries that collectively make up 59 percent of the world's population. In 17 out of the 18 countries, a majority of respondents rejected criminal penalties for abortion. In nine of the 18 countries, majorities said that abortion is an individual decision that governments should butt out of. Of those nine countries which thought the government should intervene in abortion rights, only a majority in one -- Indonesia -- supported criminal sanctions for women who terminate their pregnancies.

John McCain's Talk Not So Straight on Abortion

Via the SF Chronicle, quotations from John McCain that show how his "straight talk" has swerved on whether Roe v. Wade should stand.  (He now asserts that it should be overturned.)

-- *"I'd love to see a point where (Roe vs. Wade) is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to (undergo) illegal and dangerous operations." McCain said he would support legislation banning abortions in the third trimester. - Interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 20, 1999.

-- *"After a lot of study, a lot of consultation and a lot of prayer, I came up with a position that I believe there should be an exception for rape, incest or the life of a mother...(the issue) is one of the most difficult and agonizing issues that I think all of us face, because of our belief -- yours and mine -- that life begins at conception." - reported in the New York Times, Jan. 22, 2000

-- *"John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. '' - McCain for President website.

Doctors in Uganda Say Abortion Should Be Made Legal

allAfrica.com: Uganda: Doctors Want Abortion Made Legal, by Chris Ocowun:

PARLIAMENT should pass a law allowing induced abortion among young school girls in the war-ravaged north to reduce the high death rate of expectant mothers, medical doctors in Gulu have appealed.

"Fewer girls die of abortion in countries where it is legal compared to countries like Uganda where the practice is prohibited. Maternal mortality rate would reduce by 15% or more," said Dr. Charles Engenye, a gynaecologist of Gulu regional referral hospital.

MI: Governor to Veto Abortion Procedure Ban

Associated Press: Granholm to veto ban on an abortion procedure:

LANSING -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm says she will veto a proposed ban on a late-term procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion.

The legislation is headed to the Democratic governor after the state Senate finished passing it today. The bill is designed to mirror a federal ban that was ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

Does John McCain Support a Constitutional Amendment to Ban Abortion?

Media Matters: Gannett, AP claimed McCain opposes a constitutional amendment banning abortion -- but McCain said he supports it:

Summary: In recent comparisons of Barack Obama's and John McCain's positions, Gannett News Service and the Associated Press claimed that McCain opposes a constitutional amendment banning abortion. However, McCain has previously asserted that he supports such an amendment, and McCain advisers have reportedly said that he would not try to change the Republican Party's platform on abortion, which in 2004 called for a constitutional ban on abortion.

Either way, folks, it bears repeating: John McCain is NOT pro-choice!

NY Times Essay on Pre-Roe Abortions

New York Times: Repairing the Damage, Before Roe, by Waldo L. Fielding, M.D:

With the Supreme Court becoming more conservative, many people who support women’s right to choose an abortion fear that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that gave them that right, is in danger of being swept aside.

When such fears arise, we often hear about the pre-Roe “bad old days.” Yet there are few physicians today who can relate to them from personal experience. I can.

I am a retired gynecologist, in my mid-80s. My early formal training in my specialty was spent in New York City, from 1948 to 1953, in two of the city’s large municipal hospitals.

VA AG to Seek En Banc Review of Abortion Ban Decision

Wash. Post/AP: Va. Prosecutor to Seek Hearing on Abortion Ruling:

Virginia's attorney general said today he will seek a full hearing before a federal appeals court on a state law banning a certain form of late-term abortion ruled unconstitutional by a three-judge panel.

A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 last week that the Virginia abortion law is unconstitutional, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold a similar federal ban.

See: Federal Court of Appeals Strikes Down VA Abortion Ban

MI House Approves State Version of Federal Abortion Ban

Chicago Tribune/AP: Mich. House votes to ban partial birth abortions, by Tim Martin:

LANSING, Mich. - Michigan lawmakers moved closer to a state-level ban of what opponents call partial birth abortion on Tuesday.

The Democratic-led House passed the ban by a 74-32 vote late Tuesday. The Republican-controlled Senate has approved similar legislation. But Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm doesn't support the bill and might veto it because it doesn't include an exception for the health of the mother, setting the scene for a possible override showdown.

The federal ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in Gonzales v. Carhart last year.  (You can find all this blog's posts on Gonzales v. Carhart and its aftermath here.)

If this story makes you frown, maybe this headline (on the same story) will bring a smile (even if it doesn't quite cause you to split your sides): Sides split on expected veto for partial-birth abortion.

Federal Court of Appeals Strikes Down VA Abortion Ban

The New York Times: Virginia Abortion Ban Struck Down, by Adam Liptak:

A federal appeals court panel in Richmond, Va., struck down on Tuesday a Virginia law that made it a crime for doctors to perform what the law called “partial birth infanticide.”

In a 2-to-1 decision, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the Virginia law was more restrictive than the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which the United States Supreme Court upheld last year in Gonzales v. Carhart.

Both laws prohibited the procedure known medically as intact dilation and extraction. It involves removing an intact fetus and, typically, piercing or crushing its skull. The more common second-trimester abortion procedure, dilation and evacuation, involves dismembering the fetus in the uterus.

The key difference between the two laws, Judge M. Blane Michael wrote for the majority, was that the federal law imposes criminal charges only when doctors intend at the outset to perform the procedure, while Virginia law also made it a crime for doctors to perform the prohibited procedure by mistake.

CO Group Proposes Extending State Constitutional Rights to Embryos

Denver Post: Personhood petition garners 131,245 signatures, by Electa Draper:

A grassroots group seeking to define personhood in the Colorado Constitution as "any human being from the moment of fertilization" signed up 131,245 voters in support of the amendment....

The amendment, if approved by voters, would guarantee every person, whatever their stage of life, the right to life, liberty, equality of justice and due process of law — laying the legal foundation to challenge legal abortion.

Abortion Ban in Northern Ireland Puts Women in Debt

BBC News: Abortion costs 'put women in debt':

Northern Ireland women who travel to Great Britain for abortions can pay as much as £1,000 and are getting into debt, according to a charity.                    

Abortion remains illegal in Northern Ireland, except in limited circumstances when "serious risk" is posed to the mother's life, or her physical or mental health.

Each year, thousands of women travel to Great Britain to have the procedure, which was legalised 40 years ago.                   

The controversy has arisen again which some local MPs fear may be used to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.                   

McCain Abortion Flip-Flop?

ABC News: McCain Poised to Flip on GOP Abortion Platform, by Teddy Davis:

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., faces enormous pressure from social conservatives to ignore his repeated commitment to change the GOP's platform on abortion.

"If he were to change the party platform," to account for exceptions such as rape, incest or risk to the mother's life, "I think that would be political suicide," said Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, to ABC News. "I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble."...

The problem for McCain, however, is that he excoriated then-Gov. George W. Bush during a 2000 debate for not being willing to make this change to the platform, and Democrats are salivating at the prospect of arguing, in the words of one strategist, "that another four years of Bush begins with another four years of Bush's platform."

UK: MP Wants to Ban Abortions After 20 Weeks

BBC News: MP seeks to lower abortion limit:

Britain needs to send a "less casual message" about abortion, an MP has said as she launches her bid to reduce the upper limit from 24 to 20 weeks.

Nadine Dorries says Britain risks becoming Europe's "abortion capital".

Her amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill would lower the upper limit.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said he believed the original limit "stood the test of time" but MPs would be given a free vote on the issue.

Does Banning Abortions Mean Jailing Women Who Have Them?

New York Times: What if Abortion Became Illegal?, by The Editorial Board:

A lot of elected officials say they want to see Roe v. Wade repealed, clearing the way for abortion to be made illegal. But few of them go the extra step and say what they would like to see done to women who have abortions. Throw a scared 17-year-old woman in jail? For how long?

Since a couple more Supreme Court nominations could doom Roe, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, an offshoot of Naral Pro-Choice New York, is trying to inject this question into the presidential campaign. They’re doing it in a TV commercial aimed at John McCain, who –unlike Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — is strongly anti-choice.

The ad aims to focus voter attention on the harsh real-world consequences if Roe were overturned and abortion became a criminal act.

Click on the link above to see the ad. 

The ad is interesting because it assumes that, since McCain favors a ban on abortion, he would support punishing women for obtaining abortions.  But I haven't seen McCain make that claim anywhere.  In fact, it's quite common for anti-choice politicians to support banning abortion (and to favor punishing abortion providers) but to oppose punishment for women who obtain abortions  See: Republican Debate:  No!  Not the "Should the Woman Be Punished for Abortion" Question!  Run away!  What the ad does do, however, is highlight the inconsistency in saying that abortion is murder but then feeling discomfort in punishing women who seek abortions. 

For an eye-opening video in which anti-choice protestors were almost uniformly unprepared to answer the question, "If abortion is murder, should women be punished for obtaining them?", see Should Women Do Time for Abortions?

KS Legislature Fails to Override Veto of Abortion Bill

Associated Press: Lawmakers’ override of  veto of abortion bill fails:

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto of new restrictions on abortion providers withstood an attempt Wednesday by anti-abortion senators to overturn it.

The vote was 25-14, two short of the two-thirds majority needed to nullify the veto in the Senate and send it to the House, where an override effort probably would have been successful.

Besides imposing new restrictions, the measure would have allowed lawsuits to block late-term procedures on fetuses that are 22 weeks or older.

When she vetoed the measure, Sebelius argued it could deny women lifesaving medical care. But abortion opponents said Sebelius’ action shows that she holds radical views.

Abortion Laws Around the World

Reuters: FACTBOX: Abortion law around the world:

Britain will mark the 40th anniversary of the day the Abortion Act came into force on April 28, 1968.    

Studies by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organisation, published last October, show the number of abortions worldwide fell to less than 42 million in 2003 from 46 million in 1995.

The article gives an overview of abortion laws in some countries.

South Dakota Voters Will Consider Another Abortion Ban

NY Times: S. Dakota to Revisit Restrictions on Abortion, by Monica Davey:

Voters in South Dakota this fall will once again be asked to consider a sweeping limit on abortion, the secretary of state announced on Friday. The new proposal is widely seen as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal.

South Dakota found itself in a similar spot two years ago, when a ballot question on a broad abortion ban turned national attention on the state’s 780,000 residents during an emotional and expensive battle that lasted months and ended with the proposed ban’s defeat.

One element has changed in the question that will appear on the ballot this November: This time the ban includes some exceptions for rape, incest, or the life and health of the mother. Some South Dakotans said the absence of such exceptions led them to vote against the 2006 proposal, which lost by 56 percent to 44 percent.

If the measure is approved by the voters, South Dakota would have the strictest limits on abortion in the country, abortion rights advocates say. That would be nearly certain to lead to an immediate challenge in the courts.

See also: Minneapolis Star Tribune: 2 years later, abortion will again be on S.D. ballot, by Mary Lynn Smith.

The Philosophical Divide Among Anti-Choice Advocates

Wall Street Journal: Antiabortion Initiatives Divide Movement, by T.W. Farnam:

Abortion opponents are pushing ballot measures in five states this year. But the campaigns show as much division as unity in the antiabortion movement.

In California, an initiative would add that state to the long list that currently requires doctors to notify parents before giving abortions to minors. In Missouri, abortion foes are trying to require psychological examination to show the woman isn't acting under duress. State officials say the law as written would be tantamount to a ban, but advocates dispute that.

In South Dakota, activists have revived a measure defeated two years ago that directly outlaws abortion. They have modified the proposal to try to boost support, adding new exceptions for the health of the mother and cases of rape or incest. In Colorado and Montana, abortion opponents are taking a newly popular tack, promoting constitutional amendments that give legal rights to human embryos.

Behind the varying measures is a philosophical split among antiabortion groups. Some want to promote measures that ban abortion outright, directly challenging the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion. Others prefer to chip away at abortion rights by limiting the types of procedures allowed, or finding other ways to limit access.

South Korea: Public Health Experts Advocate Easing Restrictions on Abortion

Reuters: Illegal abortion, South Korea's open secret, by Lee Jiyeon:

At a clinic in a fashionable area of Seoul, young women sit in plush leather couches waiting for a doctor to give them an illegal abortion.

By the hundreds of thousands each year South Korean women have gone to clinics like this, which operate in the open.

Abortions have been illegal for almost as long as South Korea has existed but, in an uneasy compromise, law enforcement officials have been willing to look the other way as long as qualified doctors perform the operation.

Many public health experts in South Korea are pushing for changes in the abortion law but face opposition from a strong pro-life lobby in a country with one of Asia's largest percentages of Christians and a government trying to boost the lowest fertility rate in the developed world.

For a summary of the world's abortion laws (including those of South Korea), see this factsheet from the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Flags courtesy of ITA's Flags of All Countries used with permission.

SD Attempts to Revive Abortion Ban

Too bad this wasn't an April Fool's joke:

Rapid City Journal: Abortion Ban Supporters Collect Twice the Necessary Signatures, by Kevin Woster (4/1):

Abortion opponents rolled three safes stuffed with signed petitions into the state Capitol Monday, signaling another round in the ongoing battle over whether to ban most abortions in South Dakota.

Leslee Unruh of Sioux Falls, executive director of VoteYesForLife.com, said her organization delivered more than 46,000 signatures, close to three times the number needed to put the issue on the November ballot....

The initiative this year would add additional exceptions allowing abortions in pregnancies from rape and incest, as well as for women who could suffer serious health problems from their pregnancies. Unruh said some voters wanted those additional exceptions when they rejected the 2006 ban.

But opponents of this year’s initiative say the exceptions in the proposal are too onerous and intrusive to be workable. Dr. Marvin Buehner of Rapid City, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, said the law would require doctors performing an abortion to collect DNA from the woman and fetal tissue, and then be responsible for the “chain of custody” to law enforcement officers. Violations could mean a Class 4 felony, which would intimidate most doctors, Buehner said.

AK House Passes Abortion Ban

Daily News-Miner: Sides Hold Firm on Abortion Bill, by Anne Sutton:

Critics of a bill banning partial-birth abortion say the real intent is to ban abortion altogether. It’s a claim sponsors of the measure deny.

In a House debate on Tuesday, Rep. Wes Keller, R-Wasilla, said his bill is specific to the rare medical procedure that is used to terminate late term pregnancies.

The bill is modeled after the federal abortion ban, which the Supreme Court upheld in Gonzales v. Carhart last year.  But Alaska's constitution provides stronger privacy protection than does the federal Constitution:

Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, said the new language is vague enough to encompass all first- and second-trimester abortions. And she doubts it would survive [a] legal challenge, given the state’s strict constitutional right to privacy.

A legal opinion from the Legislature’s own counsel agrees.

AZ Legislature Passes Two Bills Restricting Abortion

The Arizona Republic: Senate votes send abortion bills to Napolitano, by Amanda Crawford:

 

The Legislature passed two bills Tuesday regulating abortions in Arizona – one clarifying how a judge can approve an abortion for a minor and the other establishing state penalties for a controversial late-term procedure.

The bills, passed by the Senate, now go to the governor's desk. Gov. Janet Napolitano has vetoed similar bills in the past.

HB 2263 expands existing state law by outlining the criteria a judge should consider when deciding if there is “clear and convincing” evidence that a minor is mature enough to have an abortion without a parent's consent. Some of the things a judge can consider under the bill: whether the minor has worked and lived outside the home, handled her personal finances or made other significant decisions on her own....

The other bill, HB 2769, builds off a federal law banning so-called partial-birth abortions. The measure would make the late-term procedure also illegal under state law, which supporters say is needed to allow local prosecutors to make sure the ban is being enforced.

Senate Candidate Legally Changes Name to "Pro-Life"

Associated Press: Aspiring Pol Changes Name To Pro-Life:

 Idaho Strawberry Farmer Vying For Larry Craig's Senate Seat Trumpets Abortion Stance

A Senate candidate has legally changed his name to Pro-Life and will appear on the ballot that way this year, state election officials say.

As Marvin Pro-Life Richardson, the organic strawberry farmer from Letha, 30 miles northwest of Boise, was denied the use of his middle name when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006 because the state's policy bars the use of slogans on the ballot.

Now, though, officials in the Idaho secretary of state's office say they have no choice because Pro-Life is his full and only name. He says he will run for the highest state office on the ballot every two years for the rest of his life, advocating murder charges for doctors who perform abortions and for women who obtain the procedure.

Unlike many anti-choice politicians, Mr. Richardson apparently does not shy away from addressing whether women should be punished for abortions.  See also this post: Republican Debate:  No!  Not the "Should the Woman Be Punished for Abortion" Question!  Run away!

Brooklyn Law School Symposium Today on "Partial-Birth Abortion" Bans

I am looking forward to participating in a symposium today at Brooklyn Law School, "The 'Partial-Birth Abortion' Ban: Health Care in the Shadow of Criminal Liability."  My co-panelists are Talcott Camp (Deputy Director, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project), David Meyer (University of Illinois & Visiting Professor at Brooklyn Law School), and Priscilla Smith (Visiting Fellow at Yale Law School).  Nan Hunter (Brooklyn Law School) will moderate the panel.  For a description of the symposium and a full list of speakers, click here.  Papers will be published in the Brooklyn Journal of Law & Policy.

Extreme, Anti-Choice Measures Introduced in Georgia Legislature

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Truly inconceivable: Birth control itself at risk in proposed legislation that lays very heavy hand on reproductive choice, by Maureen Downey (editorial board):

Today, young women of college age are casting votes in the Georgia presidential primary. Most are familiar with Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee and the other candidates and know what they represent.

However, it's unlikely they have any idea who Bobby Franklin and Martin Scott are or what they represent. That's too bad, because the two men could impact the lives of those young women for decades to come.

Both are Georgia legislators sponsoring legislation that would narrow the reproductive choices of women in the state.

"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' Is Coming to the U.S.

Mainstream American filmmakers flee from the &qu