RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed a lawsuit in federal court on Thursday challenging a new North Carolina law that requires women to be shown an ultrasound image of a fetus before getting an abortion.The "Woman's Right to Know Act" also imposes a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion and requires abortion providers to describe a fetus to women and offer to let them hear a fetal heartbeat prior to a procedure.The law is set to take effect on October 26.Katy Parker, legal director of a ACLU of North Carolina, pronounced at a press conference in Raleigh on Thursday that a law violates free speech rights and intrudes on a relationship between a woman and her doctor."We're suing today to take a politicians out of a doctor's office," Parker said.But Barbara Holt, president of North Carolina Right to Life and a supporter of a new law, pronounced a ultrasound requirement will help women make fully informed decisions."The ultrasound is a window into a womb and a opportunity for this mother to get scientifically accurate information about a procedure that is going to have great consequences for her and for her child. It's a life or death decision," Holt said.The state's Republican-led General Assembly passed a law this summer, overriding a veto by Democratic Governor Bev Perdue. North Carolina is a third state to approve a law requiring that a woman be shown an ultrasound before her abortion.Courts in Texas and Oklahoma have "already blocked enforcement of these kinds of ultrasound requirements because they radically intrude on women's private lives and violate basic constitutional rights," pronounced Bebe Anderson, a lawyer for a Center For Reproductive Rights.Other plaintiffs in a suit filed in a Middle District of North Carolina include Planned Parenthood Health Systems, Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina and several doctors who provide abortions in a state.The defendants include a president of a North Carolina Medical Board, a state Atto! rney Gen eral and district attorneys who might bring criminal charges against abortion providers who do not follow a law.Melissa Reed of Planned Parenthood Health Systems pronounced a law's requirements that a woman be presented with an image and read a description would create a "demeaning experience.""Her only recourse is to avert her eyes and cover her ears," pronounced Reed, a organization's vice president for public policy.Holt pronounced a required presentation is similar to what commercial air travelers are told before a flight about possible problems and safety procedures."You may have heard it a thousand times, but they are still required to say it and you need to know it," Holt said.She pronounced a fact that courts suspended a ultrasound requirement in Texas and Oklahoma doesn't mean a judges have agreed with those opposing a measures."In those other two states a final verdict is not in," Holt said. "Our opinion is that this is a good, solid, strong piece of law that will withstand constitutional scrutiny."In 2008, 33,140 women obtained abortions in North Carolina, a rate of 17.5 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, according to a latest figures available from a Guttmacher Institute, a group that studies and promotes reproductive rights.A federal judge in Kansas refused on Thursday to block a new law in that state that restricts insurance coverage for abortions.(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Greg McCune)
0 Comments. What Do You Have To Say / Reviews About:
Post a Comment