Top court to decide second abortion law case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would expand its review of a federal law banning some abortion procedures by deciding a California case on whether the law was too vague and imposed a burden on women.

The review could show whether the court's two newest members, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both conservatives appointed by President George W. Bush, vote to restrict abortion rights.

The justices had in February agreed to rule on a Nebraska case on whether the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is unconstitutional because it lacks an exception to protect the health of a pregnant woman.

The California case involved additional issues on whether the law imposed an undue burden on a woman's right to seek an abortion and whether it is unconstitutionally vague. A U.S. appeals court declared the law unconstitutional and upheld an injunction barring its enforcement.

Both cases will be decided in the upcoming term that begins in October. The law represents the first nationwide ban on an abortion procedure since the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe V. Wade ruling that women have a constitutional right to abortion.

Abortion rights advocates, like Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, expressed concern over the court's potential to restrict abortion rights.

"This is a crystal clear signal that this court, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, is willing to reverse decades of precedent protecting a woman's right to choose by hearing direct challenges aimed at eliminating vital protections for women's health as guaranteed under Roe v. Wade," Keenan said.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a group opposed to abortion, said, "The Supreme Court took a significant step today that clearly puts the issue of partial-birth abortion front-and-center."

The Supreme Court in 2000 struck down a similar Nebraska law by a 5-4 vote, with then-Justice Sandra Day O'Connor joining the majority. O'Connor was replaced by the more conservative Alito earlier this year.

The federal partial-birth abortion ban has never been enforced because of court challenges. Three different appeals courts have declared it unconstitutional.

The law contains an exception when the abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother, but not one to preserve the woman's health. Any physician who knowingly performs the procedure faces up to two years in prison.