Judge rules against abortion ban

Jet, June 21, 2004

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Caption: JUDGE RULES AGAINST ABORTION BAN: U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton recently declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Act unconstitutional, ruling that it places an undue burden on a woman's right to choose. The ruling in San Francisco applies to the nation's nearly 900 Planned Parenthood Federation of America clinics and their doctors, who perform about halt' the 1.3 million abortions done annually in the United States. The federation brought the lawsuit on their behalf. Last year, President Bush signed legislation banning a procedure known to doctors as intact dilation and extraction, known as "partial-birth" abortion by abortion opponents. Justice Department attorneys argued the procedure is inhumane and causes pain to the fetus. However, abortion-rights proponents argued that a woman's health during an abortion is more important than how the pregnancy is terminated, and that the banned method is often safer than a conventional abortion. Hamilton said it is "irrelevant" whether a fetus suffers pain, as supporters of the ban contend. "The act poses an undue burden on a woman's right to choose an abortion." The ruling is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.