Government
Federal appeals court to re-decide constitutionality of Virginia abortion ban
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 1, 2008
Virginia's ban on so-called "partial-birth abortion" will be reviewed for the second time after the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in July to reconsider a case challenging the statute's constitutionality.
Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell requested a rehearing after a panel of the 4th Circuit struck down the law in May, finding it imposed an undue burden on a woman's right to seek an abortion. Judges said the Virginia statute differed from a federal ban on intact dilation and evacuation because it could impose criminal liability on doctors for performing other legal late-term abortions.
The panel first rejected the state law in 2005, but the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the court to review it after upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2007.
Oral arguments in Richmond Medical Center v. Herring are expected to begin in late October.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/09/01/gvbf0901.htm.