Court to hear arguments over Ohio law banning abortions due to Down syndrome

Lawyers are preparing to make their cases to a federal court for and against the constitutionality of an Ohio law prohibiting doctors from performing abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome.

Oral arguments were scheduled Wednesday before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state Department of Health, the state medical board and county prosecutors over the law on behalf of Planned Parenthood and several abortion providers.

A federal judge placed the law on temporary hold in March on grounds that "federal law is crystal clear" that a state can't limit a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy before viability. The state appealed in April.

The law's defenders argue it is a limited restriction intended as an anti-discrimination measure.