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Texas Sonogram Law Will Not Be Blocked By Federal Judge
Texas Sonogram Law Will Not Be Blocked By Federal Judge
AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge on Monday upheld the Texas law requiring women to have a sonogram before having an abortion, saying an appeals court had forced him to declare the law constitutional.
District Judge Sam Sparks had previously struck down parts of the law, but his latest ruling said he's bound to follow the direction of the New Orleans-based appeals court.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services said the ruling clears the way for full-enforcement of the law, which was supposed to take effect Oct. 1 but has ping-ponged through the federal courts in legal challenges.
SNIP
The law requires doctors to show women images from sonograms, play fetal heartbeats aloud and describe the features of fetuses at least 24 hours before abortions. There are exceptions in cases of rape, incest, fetal deformity and for women who travel great distances to a doctor.
SNIP
Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/06/texas-sonogram-law-judge-wont-block_n_1258334.html
District Judge Sam Sparks had previously struck down parts of the law, but his latest ruling said he's bound to follow the direction of the New Orleans-based appeals court.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services said the ruling clears the way for full-enforcement of the law, which was supposed to take effect Oct. 1 but has ping-ponged through the federal courts in legal challenges.
SNIP
The law requires doctors to show women images from sonograms, play fetal heartbeats aloud and describe the features of fetuses at least 24 hours before abortions. There are exceptions in cases of rape, incest, fetal deformity and for women who travel great distances to a doctor.
SNIP
Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/06/texas-sonogram-law-judge-wont-block_n_1258334.html
Grrrrrrr !!!!
2 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
He's a very good judge. He was the judge that issued the injunction to stop the law from being enforced to begin with. Then Abbott appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and they overturned Sparks' decision. I hate the law and I hate the whole damn process, but the fault does not lay with Judge Sam Sparks.
AAS 2/7/12
Judge says he was forced to dismiss challenge to Texas sonogram law
(snip)
But in his order dismissing the lawsuit by abortion providers, Sparks took issue with the appeals court ruling, saying it "eviscerated" the free speech rights of doctors to support a law that improperly limits a physician's ability to exercise medical judgment.
"The act requires doctors to attempt to discourage their patients from obtaining abortions ... even in cases where the doctors have determined that an abortion is, for any number of reasons, the best medical option," he said in his order.
"This court believes Texas overstepped its legitimate authority when it substituted its medical judgment for that of doctors, and imposed a uniform method of treatment for all patients, rather than allowing physicians to make medically appropriate, case-by-case determinations."
Judge says he was forced to dismiss challenge to Texas sonogram law
(snip)
But in his order dismissing the lawsuit by abortion providers, Sparks took issue with the appeals court ruling, saying it "eviscerated" the free speech rights of doctors to support a law that improperly limits a physician's ability to exercise medical judgment.
"The act requires doctors to attempt to discourage their patients from obtaining abortions ... even in cases where the doctors have determined that an abortion is, for any number of reasons, the best medical option," he said in his order.
"This court believes Texas overstepped its legitimate authority when it substituted its medical judgment for that of doctors, and imposed a uniform method of treatment for all patients, rather than allowing physicians to make medically appropriate, case-by-case determinations."
So very sad to see these days when women's reproductive rights are being shredded more and more every day.
