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Federal judge strikes down North Carolina abortion law

Mar 27, 2019

By Dave Andrusko

U.S. District Judge William Osteen

RALEIGH, N.C. — On Monday, U.S. District Judge William Osteen struck down North Carolina’s law that banned abortions performed after the 20th week.

Judge Osteen gave the state 60 days to write a new abortion law or appeal his decision.

The 1973 law was amended in 2016 but has never been enforced in over four decades. But nonetheless Judge Osteen concluded, “In light of the 2016 amendment and their vigorous defense of the ban on constitutional grounds, Defendants’ disavowals provide little assurance to providers who would offer abortions after the twenty-week point of a pregnancy but for the ban.”

The judge wrote in a 48-page decision,“The Supreme Court has recognized that, while viability is the point at which the state’s legitimate interest rises to a level that may support an outright ban (with appropriate health exceptions), viability does not occur at a fixed number of weeks after the pregnancy begins but rather is determined individually in each case by a doctor. No matter what the state’s legitimate interest in restricting abortion, this interest can never support an outright ban prior to viability.”

He went on, “Indeed, the Supreme Court has further stressed that ‘it is not the proper function of the legislature or the courts to place viability, which essentially is a medical concept, at a specific point in the gestation period.’”

Among other considerations, this leaves the decision whether a child is viable to the abortionist.

“We’re disappointed, of course,” Barbara Holt, president of North Carolina Right to Life, told NRL News Today. “But we are continuing to work to pass a Second Chance For Life bill (abortion pill reversal) and unborn child protection from dismemberment. We won’t rest until we protect all the babies.”

Beginning in 2010, National Right to Life affiliates began passing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act based on model legislation provided by NRLC . These laws protect unborn babies from abortion once the little one is capable of experiencing pain. Beginning with Nebraska, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act has been passed in 16 states and is in effect in 15 of those states.

The North Carolina 20-week bill was not based on National Right to Life’s model Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and made no mention of the baby’s capability to feel pain at 20 weeks.

Categories: Judicial
Tags: abortion