Judge
opposes abortion law
SAN
FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal judge here on
Thursday imposed an injunction against the
government's new ban on certain late-term
abortions -- the third court victory for
abortion-rights advocates since President
Bush signed the law on Wednesday.
The
California decision affects physicians who
work at 900 Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.
But coupled with a New York judge's earlier
ruling, it will cover a majority of all
abortion providers in the United States.
Calling
the new law ''an undue burden on a woman's
right to choose,'' U.S. District Judge Phyllis
Hamilton's temporary injunction came hours
after a New York federal judge barred enforcement
of the ban against members of the National
Abortion Federation, which includes about
half of the nation's abortion doctors.
A
Nebraska judge also ruled against the federal
government, protecting four doctors who
sued to avoid being targeted with civil
or criminal penalties for performing the
abortions.
The
new law bans ''partial birth abortion,''
a procedure generally performed in the second
or third trimester in which a fetus is partially
delivered before being killed, usually by
having its skull punctured. Former President
Clinton twice vetoed similar bills.
The
San Francisco judge, responding to a suit
by the Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, ruled the law appears unconstitutional
because it provides no exemptions for a
woman's health. The other judges made similar
rulings.
Critics
contend the law is the first step in a larger
campaign to ban all abortions for the first
time since the Supreme Court legalized abortion
in 1973.
Supporters
of the law, which imposes a two-year prison
sentence on doctors, said safer methods
than partial-birth abortion are available.
Congress,
when adopting the measure last month after
nearly a decade of political wrangling,
wrote in the bill that the procedure is
never necessary to preserve a woman's health.
That
language was intended to get around a U.S.
Supreme Court decision three years ago that
overturned a Nebraska partial-birth abortion
law because it did not provide a ''woman's
health'' exemption.
In
court briefs filed in San Francisco, the
government described the procedure as ''extreme
and unnecessary'' and said ''Congress properly
exercised its constitutional authority to
evaluate the medical evidence.''
But
in New York, Judge Richard Conway Casey
noted in his order that medical community
and even Congress remains conflicted about
the procedure.
''It
is substantially likely that plaintiffs
will succeed on the merits,'' Casey wrote,
adding that the plaintiffs would suffer
irreparable harm without an injunction.
All
three injunctions are expected to remain
in force pending the outcome of the lawsuits.
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