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North Dakota and Arkansas argue to reinstate nation's strictest abortion laws
Source: The Guardian
North Dakota and Arkansas argue to reinstate nation's strictest abortion laws
A St Louis appeals court heard oral arguments on the so-called
fetal heartbeat laws, which ban abortions if a heartbeat is
detected
Lauren Gambino
theguardian.com, Tuesday 13 January 2015 20.40 GMT
The constitutionality of two of the nation’s most extreme abortion laws was debated in Missouri on Tuesday, with lawyers for abortion clinic providers and attorneys for the states of North Dakota and Arkansas arguing at which point a woman’s right to an abortion can be taken away.
A three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for the eighth circuit, which sits in St Louis, heard oral arguments on Tuesday over a North Dakota law that would ban abortions as early as six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, and a similar law approved in Arkansas outlawing abortions after 12 weeks.
Lawyers representing abortion clinic providers argued that the laws are in contradiction of the landmark US supreme court case Roe v Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion until the point of “viability”, or when a fetus can survive outside the uterus, typically at four months. The states’ laws would ban abortions if a heartbeat is detected, in the case of North Dakota, as early as six weeks.
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Neither law went into effect, however. A federal judge placed a temporary injunction on the Arkansas law before striking it down as unconstitutional in March 2014. The following month, a federal district judge overturned the North Dakota law, saying it couldn’t “withstand a constitutional challenge”.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
A St Louis appeals court heard oral arguments on the so-called
fetal heartbeat laws, which ban abortions if a heartbeat is
detected
Lauren Gambino
theguardian.com, Tuesday 13 January 2015 20.40 GMT
The constitutionality of two of the nation’s most extreme abortion laws was debated in Missouri on Tuesday, with lawyers for abortion clinic providers and attorneys for the states of North Dakota and Arkansas arguing at which point a woman’s right to an abortion can be taken away.
A three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for the eighth circuit, which sits in St Louis, heard oral arguments on Tuesday over a North Dakota law that would ban abortions as early as six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, and a similar law approved in Arkansas outlawing abortions after 12 weeks.
Lawyers representing abortion clinic providers argued that the laws are in contradiction of the landmark US supreme court case Roe v Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion until the point of “viability”, or when a fetus can survive outside the uterus, typically at four months. The states’ laws would ban abortions if a heartbeat is detected, in the case of North Dakota, as early as six weeks.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Neither law went into effect, however. A federal judge placed a temporary injunction on the Arkansas law before striking it down as unconstitutional in March 2014. The following month, a federal district judge overturned the North Dakota law, saying it couldn’t “withstand a constitutional challenge”.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/13/north-dakota-arkansas-restrictive-abortion-laws
