Federal court blocks 20-week abortion ban in Ariz.
CBS/AP/iStockphoto
(AP) PHOENIX - A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily prohibited Arizona from enforcing its new ban on most abortions starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its order two days after a trial judge ruled that the ban could take effect Thursday as scheduled.
Judge rules Ariz. 20-wk. abortion ban may take effect
The appellate court put the ban on hold until a pending appeal is decided, which will take at least several months. It said in a brief order that it will hold a hearing as soon as possible this fall after receiving legal briefs due in September and October.
Abortion-rights groups appealed U.S. District Judge James Teilborg's ruling that the ban is constitutional, partly because of concerns about health of women and possible pain for fetuses.
The case centers on whether the ban violates U.S. Supreme Court rulings that states cannot prohibit abortion before a fetus is able to survive outside the womb. That's generally considered to be about 24 weeks. Normal pregnancies run about 40 weeks.
Arizona currently bans abortions at viability.
Attorneys on both sides of the issue said courts haven't blocked 20-week bans before. Arizona is among 10 states to enact types of 20-week bans.
Teilborg ruled that Arizona's law is only a permitted regulation, not an actual prohibition of abortion. It has exceptions for medical emergencies, and it doesn't prohibit any woman from making the decision to end her pregnancy, he said in his ruling.
Also, affected women can file separate lawsuits on a case-by-case basis to argue that they should be allowed to have an abortion after 20 weeks due to individual circumstances, he said.
As a regulation, the law is justified to help the state protect the health of women and prevent fetuses from feeling pain, Teilborg said.
The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights said Teilborg's ruling ran counter to Supreme Court rulings by effectively banning abortion before viability, not just regulating it.
The center is one of two abortion-rights groups that filed a challenge on behalf of three abortion providers.
The providers and their lawyers said a 20-week ban would not give some women time to carefully decide whether to abort problem pregnancies.
While center President Nancy Northup said the 9th Circuit's order was "a vital reaffirmation" of protections for abortion rights, supporters of the law expressed confidence that the Arizona law will eventually be upheld and enforced.
"Though the 9th Circuit's stay is regrettable, all it has done is give itself time to fully consider the case. Once it does, it should see the merits of the district court's decision and uphold Arizona's law," said Steven H. Aden, an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who defended the law during a hearing before Teilborg last week, said the 9th Circuit panel's willingness to hear the case relatively quickly was a positive.
"The order to place the case for argument recognizes the important interests of Arizona," he said.
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the measure into law in April after it was approved by the Republican-led Legislature.
While North Carolina has long had a 20-week ban, Nebraska in 2010 was the first state to recently enact one. Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas and Oklahoma followed in 2011. Along with Arizona, Georgia and Louisiana approved 20-week bans this year, though Georgia's law doesn't take effect until 2013.
A ruling by the 9th Circuit would be binding only in its nine-state territory, which includes Arizona and Idaho.
Another Arizona anti-abortion law approved this year also faces a legal challenge. Similar to laws in other states, that law would prohibit Planned Parenthood or other abortion providers from receiving public money for non-abortion health care.
A judge has approved an agreement by Planned Parenthood Arizona and the state to delay enforcement of the funding ban pending a ruling on the legal challenge to the law.
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While we are all arguing and debating, living children that feel very real pain are being dismembered and ripped from their mothers womb. They are being ripped apart, while alive, piece by piece. Just think about it for a moment. Forget all the rhetoric.
If you need a visual image, see a medical diagram of the procedure at: http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/DEabortiongraphic.html
Imagine, for a minute, the immense pain that they must be feeling.
This goes beyond politics, religion, etc. This is huge injustice and is just plain wrong and horrific, no matter what side of the 'aisle' you sit on.
What ever the situation, the woman is stuck with the decision of what to do about her pregnancy and, if she delivers, what to do about her child.....all of the pro-lifer and pro-choicer people are pretty much hypocrites. They scream and march for their beliefs, but they don't really care. How many pro-lifers have gone down to the abortion clinics and offered a woman going into that clinic food, shelter, clothes, hospital costs, etc., all of the things she will encounter if she goes through with her pregnancy. They offer her brochures, numbers to places that will put them up......but they do not offer their own home because they REALLY do not care about that mother or her unborn child....they care what others will think of them for being such benevolent and righteous people...on the same token, how many of the people who advocate abortion and believe that is should be available to all women, no matter what stage of pregnancy she is in, will go into that clinic with her, hold her hand, then go around the gurney she is on and stand where the doctor stands and CATCH WHAT IS BEING DRAGGED OUT OF HER BODY!! Absolutely none of you will....know why, cuz you do not want to be bothered with the bloody details....you do not want to face the fact that when a woman allows a doctor to perform an abortion, she allows her unborn child to be killed.....ripped from her body in pieces. It matters not whether you think it IS a child yet, a pregnant woman KNOWS it is a child as soon as she finds out that she is pregnant. Than woman may be able to turn off her moral compass in order to do what she feels she must do......but make NO MISTAKE.....she may not know what she is doing when she goes into that clinic to have the "procedure" but she damn strait knows what she has done when she comes out....and if she has any conscience, she is not happy, only relieved that she had a choice to do this. Unfortunately, many are sad at their choice as the years burn on...not because they wanted the child they aborted.....but because, now they have children and realize, abortion is NOT the answer.
Do not criticize anyone for making the choice that they make when you are not involved in their life. Lots of people sit on the sidelines and make off handed remarks when this is a really serious issue with women who must face it in their lives. Easy to sit on the side lines and make your crappy insightful remarks, but if you have not been in this situation, you know not what women are up against.
Tell you all what.....if you all do not like women having abortions, make a law that if a man gets a woman pregnant he MUST marry her or go to prison...THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN cuz it is easier to throw all the women under the bus....let them deal with "it".
No, I did not make the radical suggestion that "a woman can have an abortion whenever she feels like it". Abortion, indeed, has to be the last choice that women should make after thoughtful judgement and many women do not consider abortion lightly enough to get it "whenever she feels like it". And, of course, a newborn baby is not a part of his/her mother anymore; therefore, the mother does not have right to kill her baby. However, taking away the rights of having abortion is another side of story. Women choose to get abortion for many reasons; their psychological, physical and financial problems that no one can help completely. Plus, unwanted child will most likely to lead to the serious damage for both mother and the child.
Also, for the most part, when women want an abortion, they don't say "I think I'll wait 4 months and then decide whether or not I want to keep this baby." The decision is usually made within a few days of the discovery of pregnancy. Most abortions after the 1st trimester are for health reasons, not by voluntary choice.
The dedicated men and women of the military vote three to one republican and uphold and defend all rights, the to bear arms, protect our country and freedoms from foriegn as well as internal threats. Americas army is an ALL volunteer army.
conservatives hate rules on business that prevent viability, job growth, and global competiveness.
conservatives believe that what happens in the bedroom is nobody's business and hate liberals who puch alternate lifestyles down the throats of those who disagree with those lifestyles. See Chick-fil-a.
Conservatives HATE war but are willing to do what is neccessary to defend this great nation and the freedom it provides.
Conservatives are PRO LIFE, enough said.
America provides the freedom to succeed through hard work, personal responsibility, and dedication. It even provides for those who are unable to achieve success due to circumtances beyond ones control, it should never provide a handout for those who are irresponsible, self-entitled, or not willing to achieve through hardwork on their own.
Conservatives do not label fellow Americans stupid simply because those individuals are not in agreement with a specific ideological belief.
On the other hand if you want to witness and read the liberal mindset in all it's glory just read the posts composed by manofsteel-velvet, typical hatefilled, false allegations, from an intollerant lefytwing extremist.
So what if 75% of the armed forces vote Republican? Does that Democratic soldier's service matters less? I don't see your point here. Mississippi and Alabama overwhelmingly vote Republican every year. Does that mean those citizens are better than the citizens of other states? You'd have a hard time defending that argument.
Liberals aren't trying to "push alternate lifestyles down the throats of those who disagree." They just don't people to be hated for living non-conventional lifestyles. Myself, along with most liberals, are totally okay with people visiting Chick-Fil-A to stand up for their beliefs, however, they don't believe that 2% of the population deserves less rights than the other 98% just because they prefer their own sex versus the opposite.
If conservatives "hate war" so much, then why did they vote to invade Iraq even though they posed no national security threat? And why do they now want to invade Iran on even less of a legitimate premise?
I don't think any group of Americans is "stupid" simply because they follow a different political ideology. I do, however, believe certain Americans are stupid when they blindly follow something even though every tangible fact points in the opposite direction.
Anybody who allows an abortion after 12 weeks should be prosecuted for depraved indifference.
Let the people who make such decisions work in an abortion clinic and see how they feel about cleaning up little baby fingers and toes after one week.
There are many options besides abortion available to women today to terminate a pregnancy before 12 weeks.
There are so many childless couples out there who would love to adopt a beautiful newborn.
Twelve weeks is more than enough time to decide if she wants to terminate the pregnancy.!!
A little common sense (if such a thing still exists) could prevent her from becoming pregnant in the first place
Does that scenario make any sense to you? Because that's what the both of you just portrayed. If a woman finds out she is pregnant, she usually knows right then (or a few days later after talking with the father) whether or not she wants to go through with it. Abortions after the first trimester are usually because of health complications. I know a couple that had a child that developed incorrectly in the womb, and they found this out around Month 5 or 6. Had the wife carried to term, it would have been stillborn baby. Nothing they could do about it. Do you really think she deserved to go through with the remainder of the pregnancy? Just think.