Source: NBC News
RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a North Carolina law banning women from having abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy except in an urgent medical emergency.
The decision Monday by U.S. District Judge William Osteen in Greensboro gave state legislators 60 days before his ruling takes effect to allow them to amend abortion restrictions or appeal his ruling to a higher court.
The U.S. Supreme Court has protected abortion as a constitutional right until a fetus has developed enough to live outside the mother’s womb. The judge noted that North Carolina’s own medical expert conceded that’s almost never possible until the 22nd week of gestation.
The law was challenged in 2016 shortly after lawmakers narrowed abortions after the 20th week of gestation so that they were only allowable if the mother faces a risk of death or serious and irreversible harm from some urgent medical emergency.
The 2016 changes also “imposed substantial reporting obligations on abortion providers for any abortion performed after sixteen weeks, expanded the universe of medical facilities from which information is collected, restricted the type of doctor who may perform an abortion in the state, and lengthened the informed consent waiting period from 24 to 72 hours,” Osteen wrote in his ruling.
The revised law also meant that abortions were no longer allowed for medical conditions that cause gradual health damage but never reached a specific point to make them immediately necessary, Osteen said.
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