Court Strikes Down Virginia Abortion Law

Last week, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld (2-1) a 2004 decision that Virginia's late-term abortion ban is unconstitutional because there is no provision to protect the health of mothers. The Virginian -Pilot reported that the state law did not mention "abortion," in an attempt to circumvent the precedent-setting Supreme Court decision in a Nebraska case. Instead:

... it decreed that a child is born when its entire head is outside the body of the mother. Anyone taking the life of the newborn at th at point would be guilty of a new felony called "partial birth infanticide," punishable by a maximum 10 years in prison.

Most polls suggest that Americans, by a slim majority, call themselves "pro-choice." President Bush supported and signed the constitutionally questionable "partial-birth" abortion ban in 2003 and, as Governor of Texas, vowed to put an end to abortion.