Abortion Law Back Before 4th Circuit
A federal appeals court heard arguments yesterday on whether Virginia’s ban on so-called partial-birth abortions is unconstitutional.
At issue is whether the state law is more restrictive than the federal law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court this spring in Gonzales v. Carhart, the Washington Post reports. After the decision, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its 2005 ruling striking down Virginia’s law.
Virginia Solicitor General William Thro argued that the Supreme Court decision “removes any doubt that the Virginia act is constitutional.” But one of the appeals judges disagreed, the Post recounts in its story today. “That doesn’t really quite get you home, Mr. Thro,” said Judge M. Blane Michael.
Michael voted with the majority to strike down the law in the original 2005 decision by the 4th Circuit, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The same panel is rehearing the case, and the judges’ views appeared unchanged, the Post says.
