BY BRIAN TAYLOR
The New Jersey Senate voted 27-13 to enact a law banning the
late-term abortion procedure called intact dilation and
extraction December 15, overriding a veto by Gov. Christine
Todd Whitman. The only exception to the ban is if the woman's
life is at risk. It is the first such restriction in that state
since abortion was legalized nearly a quarter century ago.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood immediately petitioned a federal court to block the new law. Judge Anne Thompson rejected issuing a restraining order, but scheduled a hearing on the legislation for the next day. Some 16 state governments have voted to impose similar laws.
Whitman, who presents herself as a defender of abortion rights, vetoed the anti-choice legislation saying the ban was unconstitutional. She put forward an "alternate" bill, however, that would have banned all abortions in the state once the fetus was considered "viable," with exceptions for women whose life or long-term physical health was in jeopardy.
Anti-choice forces, who demagogically refer to the medical procedure as "partial birth" abortion, rejected Whitman's proposal, asserting that protecting "a woman's health" was too big a loophole.
The United States Court of Appeals ruled in November that an Ohio ban on specific abortion procedures was unconstitutional because it would outlaw "the vast majority" of abortions after the first trimester of pregnancy.
The Supreme Court has ruled that states can enact legislation restricting late-term abortion procedures, provided they include a clause for women whose health or life are threatened by giving birth. Forty-one states have done so.