Court abortion ban puts focus on states

Advocates on both sides of the abortion issue agree the Apr. 18 Supreme Court decision banning intact dilation and evacuation portends a new wave of legislation in the states. The ruling held that the federal abortion ban was constitutional despite the lack of an exception to protect the health of the woman and banned a specific medical procedure for the first time. Backers say that the procedure is used only in rare circumstances, but critics say because there is no legal definition of "partial-birth abortion," the law and the ruling could apply to abortions as early as 12 weeks. Under the ruling, a woman would still be able to access certain kinds of second-trimester abortions but would not necessarily be able to have the banned procedure, even if her doctor considered it the safest and best for her individual circumstances. Since the Supreme Court upheld the ban, lawmakers have pushed anti-choice legislation in many states, including Alabama, Michigan, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina, North Dakota and Kansas. Just hours after the court's decision a lawmaker in Alabama introduced a measure that would ban all abortions in the state. On Apr. 19, state lawmakers in Michigan and Louisiana introduced legislation similar to the federal ban. Proponents regard such copycat legislation as a way for states to pass more restrictive versions of the federal ban. The Louisiana version, for example, carries prison terms of up to 10 years, considerably harsher than the two years in the federal law. On Apr. 20, the Georgia Legislature passed a measure requiring abortion providers to offer women the opportunity to see the fetus in an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion. A similar bill is now pending in North Carolina. On Apr. 30, the North Dakota House and Senate voted to pass a bill (HB 1466) that would make abortion a felony in the state except in cases of rape or incest or when the woman's life is in danger. Under the bill, anyone who performs an abortion could be fined $5,000 and imprisoned for up to five years. It now goes to Gov. John Hoeven (R). In Kansas, the House voted on May 2 to approve a bill (HB 2062) that would change the state's definition of a "person" to include an "unborn child" from the time of conception and allow prosecutors to charge anyone who attacks a pregnant woman with a separate crime against the fetus. Abortion-rights opponents support the measure, while abortion-rights advocates say the measure is a step toward banning abortions. It now moves to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D). Katherine Grainger, legislative counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, said the real legal onslaught will come next year. Most state legislatures have already adjourned for the year or have passed deadlines barring introduction of new legislation. Some states, she said, will attempt to pass outright bans on abortion that can be used as legal vehicles to press for a reversal of Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that found abortion was part of a woman's constitutional right to privacy. Last week, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) introduced legislation to safeguard abortion rights. The Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act would update New York law to establish a fundamental right to privacy. Current state law, which was enacted in 1970, treats an abortion as homicide but contains exceptions that allow it in many situations, although not to protect a woman's health in the late stages of a pregnancy. Meanwhile, national reproductive rights groups are lobbying states to enact their own version of the Freedom of Choice Act, a federal bill that codifies the rights established in Roe vs. Wade in law. Seven states–California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada and Washington–have passed the Freedom of Choice Act in previous years, according to National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League Pro-Choice America. Nationally the Freedom of Choice Act's prospects are cloudy. President Bush recently warned Democratic leaders he would veto any attempt to weaken federal policies that restrict abortion.