Supreme Court weighing in on abortion in 'partial birth' matter
By Richard Carelli, Associated Press, 01/14/00
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court today set the stage for its most important abortion ruling in recent years, agreeing to decide whether states may ban a surgical procedure opponents call "partial birth abortion."
The justices voted to review a Nebraska law that made it a crime for doctors to perform such abortions. A federal appeals court struck down that law, calling it unconstitutional.
Nearly identical laws have been enacted by 30 states, but courts have blocked enforcement of most of them.
A month after the Nebraska law was invalidated along with laws in Iowa and Arkansas, nearly identical abortion laws in Illinois and Wisconsin were upheld by another federal appeals court.
That created a direct conflict legal experts predicted would force the Supreme Court to re-enter the legal, political and moral storm it created by ruling in 1973 that women have a constitutional right to abortion. The justices reaffirmed that core right in 1992, their last major abortion ruling.
Although the current controversy swirls around a specific procedure, abortion-rights activists contend far more may be at stake. They say the court's eventual decision could broadly safeguard -- or dramatically erode -- abortion rights, depending on what state legislatures are allowed to consider when passing laws to regulate abortions.
The court will hear arguments in the Nebraska case in April. Its decision is expected by July.
Congress enacted a federal ban on partial-birth abortions but President Clinton vetoed it.
The procedure involves partially extracting a fetus, legs first, through the birth canal, cutting the skull and draining its contents.
