Judge Upholds North Carolina Law Requiring Hospitals Handle Abortions After 12 Weeks
In a decision that goes against Planned Parenthood, a U.S. judge determined that a portion of a new North Carolina legislation mandating abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy to be performed in hospitals is constitutional. Judge Upholds North Carolina News in USA
The judge also overturned a different statute provision that required healthcare providers to record a patient’s pregnancy before performing an abortion.
The relevant North Carolina legislation, 2023-14, prohibits abortions beyond 12 weeks of pregnancy, except in situations involving a medical emergency, rape, incest, or an unborn child’s “life-limiting disorder.” Physicians who break the law may be fined up to $250,000 and charged with a felony. Judge Upholds North Carolina News in USA
Other aspects of the law provide that abortions conducted after 12 weeks of pregnancy must take place in hospitals, although abortions performed before 12 weeks may also be performed in surgical centers or abortion clinics.
The case was filed in 2023 by Planned Parenthood and a doctor from North Carolina, who claimed that certain aspects of it were unlawful or incomprehensible.
In a 33-page ruling submitted on July 26 and verified on Monday, U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles declared that neither Planned Parenthood’s nor the doctor’s constitutional rights are violated by the requirement. Judge Upholds North Carolina News in USA
The plaintiffs, according to Judge Eagles, “have offered credible and largely uncontroverted medical and scientific evidence that this requirement is unnecessary to protect maternal health and safety and will needlessly increase the risk and cost of such abortions for many women.
” However, she also emphasized the Roe v. Wade ruling from the US Supreme Court, which was overturned in 2022 and established a fundamental right to seek abortion.
The judge declared that “there is no fundamental right to abortion since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs,” which means that state legislators “need only offer rational speculation for its legislative decisions regulating abortion.”
