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Judge Overturns Virginia Abortion Law NewsMax WiresRICHMOND, Va. -- A federal judge struck down Virginia's ban on a type of late-term abortion Monday, saying the law violated privacy rights and failed to make an exception for the health of the woman. U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams called the ban on what opponents call partial-birth abortion "impermissibly void for vagueness." The judge blocked the law last July, the day it went into effect, calling it a "no-brain case." He also has challenged the use of the term "partial birth infanticide" by the law's backers, saying it was an attempt to alarm the public. Virginia's law outlawed a procedure generally performed in the second or third trimester in which a fetus is partially delivered before being killed. Lawyers for the Center for Reproductive Rights, who filed the suit, argued that the law was unconstitutional because it disregarded a four-year-old Supreme Court ruling allowing the procedure when the health of the mother is threatened. The state law contained no such health exception. "Courts across the country - including the U.S. Supreme Court - have been clear that such bans are an unconstitutional threat to women's health and lives," Nancy Northup, president of the center, said in a statement Monday. The group said the lawsuit was a precursor to a challenge to the limited federal ban, which is already being challenged in Nebraska, New York and California. About 30 states have enacted versions of partial birth abortion bans, but in many cases they have been overturned in court. Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said Monday's decision was not unexpected, but he plans to appeal. "This ruling is not surprising, given the number of times we have had to appeal rulings on similar legislation to higher courts," said Kilgore, a Republican. The suit alleged that Virginia's "vaguely defined" ban could subject doctors to criminal prosecution even for safely performing a more common type of second-trimester abortion known as "dilation and evacuation," as well as obstetrical procedures that help women suffering miscarriages. The law's backers claimed it specifically targeted procedures that take place once the fetus has emerged from the birth canal.
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