In first fallout from abortion ruling, Supreme Court returns state cases

Posted: 4/28/07

In first fallout from abortion ruling,
Supreme Court returns state cases

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—In the first fallout from a controversial recent ruling on abortion rights, the Supreme Court April 23 returned two cases—dealing with Virginia and Missouri state laws on “partial-birth” abortions—to lower federal courts for reconsideration.

The decisions mean the effects of the high court’s April 18 Gonzales v. Carhart decision will now filter down to state law — elating abortion opponents and confirming the fears of abortion-rights advocates.

The Gonzales decision is expected to embolden legislators to find new ways to restrict abortion in states where opposition to abortion rights is strong. Abortion foes hope the decision opens the door for courts and legislatures to perhaps even overturn Roe v. Wade.

The justices returned Herring v. Richmond Medical Center and Nixon v. Reproductive Health Services to the federal appeals courts that had already decided those cases. In both cases, the appeals courts had cited previous Supreme Court abortion decisions in overturning state bans on the abortion procedure.

But justices vacated those decisions, instructing the lower courts to reconsider in light of its recent decision that a federal ban on the procedure did not need to include a broad exception to protect the health of the mother.

In the Herring case, a lawsuit over a Virginia law will be remanded to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In the Nixon case, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will reconsider a similar Missouri ban, passed by state legislators who overrode a gubernatorial veto. Although it became law in 1999, it has never taken effect.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon promised to file a request that the appellate court let the law take effect immediately, the Associated Press reported.

The disputed procedure, also known as “intact dilation and extraction,” involves the partial delivery of a fetus, whose skull is then punctured and its contents evacuated to make it easier to pass the head through the birth canal. Many doctors say it is used only in exceedingly rare circumstances.

The Gonzales decision was the first time since abortion was legalized nationwide in 1973 that the Supreme Court has upheld a blanket ban on a specific abortion procedure. It also marked a break with the court’s previous jurisprudence on abortion rights, which held that any restriction on abortion had to include exceptions to protect the mother’s life or health.