N.Y. federal judge halts enforcement of late-term abortion ban
Court action follows similar ruling Wednesday in Nebraska
November 6, 2003
NEW YORK (CNN) -- In a ruling more far reaching than a similar one in Nebraska Wednesday, a federal judge in New York Thursday issued a temporary restraining order barring the U.S. government from enforcing a recently passed ban on certain late-term abortions.
The order against the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 covers providers affiliated to the National Abortion Federation, which claims to represent the doctors who provide half the abortions sought by women each year.
The order, signed by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Conway Casey, said the plaintiffs had made an adequate case that the law could harm patients and that the law could be declared unconstitutional because it does not contain an exception to protect the women's health.
The judge said the order will be in force for 10 days and ordered both the NAF, which brought the suit, and the U.S. attorney general to submit briefs.
The NAF praised the decision to halt enforcement of the law, which it claimed was tantamount to "allowing Congress to practice medicine."
When he signed the new law Wednesday, President Bush said he would use every legal avenue to fight anyone trying to block its enforcement.
Thursday's action follows a ruling Wednesday by a federal judge in Nebraska that blocked implementation of the federal ban on certain late-term abortions. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf came less than an hour after President Bush signed the ban into law.
Kopf said his order would apply only to the four doctors who filed the lawsuit, but the ruling could extend beyond Nebraska because the physicians are licensed to practice in Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, New York, South Carolina and Virginia.
Bush signed the measure into law Wednesday at a ceremony in Washington, saying that for years, "a terrible form of violence has been directed against children who are inches from birth while the law looked the other way."
The law would ban certain types of abortion procedures on fetuses that are roughly 14 weeks or older that abortion opponents call "partial-birth abortion."
Supporters of the measure contend it applies only to a procedure done late in pregnancy that is never necessary to protect the health of the mother.
Under the new law, a woman could not undertake the procedure even if her health was at risk or the child would be born with ailments. Top