Politics
Wednesday January 18, 2006
US Supreme Court Avoids Major Abortion Ruling
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Gudrun Schultz
WASHINGTON, United States, January 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously today against a lower court’s decision to strike down abortion restrictions in the state of New Hampshire, but stopped short of a major ruling on the necessity of a “health clause” in abortion legislation.
In 2000 the Court of Appeals in Boston ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood New England, which had challenged New Hampshire’s parental notification law. The law required under-age girls to notify their parents before obtaining an abortion. Planned Parenthood said the law was unconstitutional because it did not allow exceptions in cases of a health risk to the girl.
In fact New Hampshire’s parental notification law does make allowances for cases in which the girl’s life is in immediate danger. In all lesser cases of medical emergency, the law requires that parents be notified of physical danger to their child. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court for further hearings.
Phyllis Woods, a former state representative from Dover, N.H., who was a main sponsor of the law, told the Associated Press she was pleased by the ruling but concerned that the appeals court might require a broad health exception.
"Our concern has always been that a blanket health exception opens the door and really negates the whole purpose of the bill," Woods said
Health exceptions in abortion law have been interpreted so loosely that they have become synonymous with open access to abortion. Opponents say they are simply a method of bypassing legal restrictions to abortion. So far, the Court has avoided addressing the issue directly. It is not considered a constitutional necessity to provide for health exceptions in abortion law, although advocates say the Nebraska ruling in 2000, when the Supreme Court struck down a ban on partial-birth abortion because it did not contain provisions for health risks to the mother, set a decisive precedent.
In 1990 the Supreme Court stood in favor of parental notification laws in Minnesota, in a case almost identical to that of New Hampshire.
A Gallup poll released in November 2005 found almost 70% of Americans support parental notification laws.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
NH Abortion Parental Consent Challenge before Supreme Court
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05120103.html
Abortion Notification Law in New Hampshire under Review by US Supreme Court
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/05052409.html
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.