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.