Politics
Monday June 6, 2005
U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Striking Down of Virginia Law Banning Partial Birth Abortion
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
RICHMOND, June 6, 2005, (LifeSiteNews.com) The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, by a vote of 2-1, has upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams of Richmond that declares a Virginia law banning a type of late-term abortion as unconstitutional due to its lack of an exception to protect a woman’s health.
The law, passed by the 2003 Virginia General Assembly, was challenged by The Center for Reproductive Rights. It called for a ban on “partial birth abortion”, where the child is partially delivered before being killed. The Virginia statute called it "partial-birth infanticide."
Judge Williams immediately blocked enforcement of the Virginia law on July 1, 2003, the day it went into effect, calling it a "no-brain case." He declared it unconstitutional six months later, after granting a plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment.
A similar law in Nebraska was struck down in 2000 for the same reason, namely, not having a ‘health exception’ clause.
Judge M. Blane Michael, of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote in the majority opinion, which was joined by Judge Diana Gribbon Motz. In the ruling Jude Michael stated “Because the Virginia Act does not contain an exception for circumstance when the banned abortion procedures are necessary to preserve a woman's health, we affirm the summary judgment order declaring the act unconstitutional on its face,"
Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, who dissented from the majority position, said the Virginia statute differs substantially from the Nebraska law because it makes it a crime to kill a "human infant who has been born alive, but who has not been completely extracted or expelled from its mother."
The state could ask the full appeals court or the Supreme Court to review the decision.
DB
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.