Wed, Nov 25 2009
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Missouri: New abortion law could provide unique court test But the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, citing the precedent established five years earlier, ruled in July 1988 that the 16th-week hospital requirement was little different than the 12th-week requirement. The appeals court said non-hospital abortions at those ages cannot reasonably be considered more dangerous to women than those performed in hospitals.
Missouri’s latest attempt to restrict the location of abortions takes a different approach. It follows the Virginia law by limiting abortions to both hospitals and clinics licensed as outpatient surgical centers. But it goes further by applying that limitation to clinics that provide even just a few first-trimester abortions, not only those that perform later abortions. It’s that latter part that makes Missouri’s law a first-of-its kind, according to NARAL attorneys who track state abortion laws. Under its Roe v. Wade precedent, the Supreme Court has generally maintained that the right to abortion is strongest in the first trimester, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia. Yet the court has allowed states to impose requirements on abortions at any fetus age, so long as they are not unduly burdensome.. “It could be that a court would find this to be an undue burden because of the first trimester aspect of this,” Tobias said, “but it’s not at all clear.” Planned Parenthood “is looking very carefully at these issues” as it weighs whether to sue before the law takes effect, said Arthur Benson, a Kansas City attorney for the organization. NARAL’s legal director, Cathy Mahoney, called Missouri’s regulatory reach into first-trimester abortion clinics an extreme step. “These kinds of restrictions can largely make that right (to abortion) unattainable — if not legally, practically speaking,” Mahoney said. Spokespeople for Missouri Right to Life and Americans United for Life said their legal experts weren’t available to talk about Missouri’s new law. But Missouri’s apparently unique approach doesn’t necessarily put it on shaky ground, said Right to Life lobbyist Susan Klein. “Just because no other state has done it does not mean this is not good legislation. We believe it’s excellent legislation,” Klein said. “Abortion has risks with it, and the Department of Health should be able to come in and have a say so in how women are taken care of.” 
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