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Federal Judge Wednesday, Reinstating North Carolina's decades-old ban on abortions after 20 weeks' gestation, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing states to freely regulate such procedures. I was.
Judge William Osteen of the United States District Court in Greensboro lifted an injunction he made in May 2019 barring enforcement of his 20-week cutoff.
established a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion and ruled that states can restrict abortion only if the fetus becomes viable outside the womb – usually gestational weeks from age 24 to 28 – Unless the mother's health is in jeopardy.
Roe's precedent was overturned by the Supreme Court's new conservative majority in his Dobbs v. Jackson case in Mississippi on June 24, with all states concerned with fetal viability. It immediately paved the way for regulating abortion as it deems appropriate.
North Carolina law, restored by Osteen, makes abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy illegal unless the mother's life is in danger. Experts say full-term pregnancies usually last until about 40 weeks, and abortions after 20 weeks are rare.
Following the Dobbs decision, Osteen called upon all parties involved in litigation challenging the 20-week abortion limit originally enacted in 1973 to: He asked to file court statements arguing whether his injunction would remain in effect. or be fired.
Osteen, who eventually sided with Republican legislative leaders in North Carolina, said Dobbs had removed the "constitutional right to prenatal abortion" and removed any legal basis for an injunction. wrote his 14-page decision.
He also challenged the District Attorney's argument that dismissing the injunction had no material effect on prosecution at law because he had no intention of enforcing a 20-week cutoff. rejected.
North Carolina's governor and attorney general, both pro-abortion access Democrats, have spoken out against reproductive health services largely unrestricted in the South, even after Dobbs' decision last month. He is one of the few remaining redoubts.
Since then, several neighboring states have banned abortions past her six weeks, but many pregnant women still find themselves pregnant. Is not ... On Wednesday, South Carolina's Supreme Court blocked enforcement of the six-week cutoff, but is considering challenges to the law by affiliates of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
North Carolina's Ray Gov. Cooper said on July 6 that he would protect abortion access in the state and be a safe haven for women seeking reproductive services from other states. signed an executive order declaring (Reporting by Steve Gorman, Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler)
