Supreme Court won't review blocked Alabama law that bans most second-trimester abortions

Source: CNBC


PUBLISHED 13 MIN AGO UPDATED 8 MIN AGO




Tucker Higgins
@TUCKERHIGGINS

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The Supreme Court will not hear arguments over a 2016 Alabama abortion law that outlaws the most common procedure used during a pregnancy’s second trimester, the court said on Friday in an order.

The decision means the law, which had been blocked by lower courts, will not go into effect.

Two federal courts blocked the law after finding that there was no alternative method that was safe, effective and available.

The Supreme Court will not hear arguments over a 2016 Alabama abortion law that outlaws the most common procedure used during a pregnancy’s second trimester, the court said on Friday in an order. The decision means the law, which had been blocked by lower courts, will not go into effect.

The case concerned a law enacted by Alabama lawmakers in 2016 which bars the dilation and evacuation procedure. The procedure, which is typical after about 15 weeks, involves dilating the cervix and removing fetal tissue, often in multiple pieces, which is prohibited by the law’s language banning “dismemberment.” The law provides an exception in cases involving serious health risk to the mother.

The procedure accounts for 99% of abortions performed after 15 weeks in Alabama, according to attorneys for the respondents in the case, which include two Alabama women’s centers and two doctors.

The law never went into effect. Two federal courts blocked the law after finding that there was no alternative method that was safe, effective and available. The Supreme Court has held that state bans on abortion before the fetus is viable are unlawful.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/28/supreme-court-wont-revive-restrictive-alabama-abortion-law-from-2016.html