Partial Birth Abortion Ban to SCOTUS.

"Breaking News":


According to the Associated Press:

The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will consider the constitutionality of banning a type of late-term abortion, teeing up a contentious issue for a newly-constituted court already in a state of flux over privacy rights.
. . .
The federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act prohibits a certain type of abortion, generally carried out in the second or third trimester, in which a fetus is partially removed from the womb, and the skull is punctured or crushed.

Justices on a 9-0 vote in a New Hampshire case reaffirmed in January that states can require parental involvement in abortion decisions and that state restrictions must have an exception to protect the mother's health.

The federal law in the current case has no health exception, but defenders maintain that the procedure is never medically necessary to protect a woman's health.
. . .
The case that will be heard this fall comes to the Supreme Court from Nebraska, where the federal law was challenged on behalf of physicians. Doctors who perform the procedure contend that it is the safest method of abortion when the mother's health is threatened by heart disease, high blood pressure or cancer.

If you really want to, you can read the 8th Circuit's ruling under review HERE and the Act at issue HERE.

There is more information from:
How Appealing.
SCOTUS Blog.
Jurist.

**FOLLOW-UP Links (February 23, 2006):
How Appealing (February 23, 2006) -- links to a number of articles from across the country about the case and speculation about the significance of Roberts' and Alito's votes.