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Three lawsuits target prohibition on ‘partial-birth’ procedureThe Associated Press Updated: 6:02 p.m. ET March 29, 2004
NEW YORK - The federal ban on a type of late abortion was challenged in three courtrooms across the nation Monday as abortion-rights activists argued that the law is so broad it infringes on women’s basic right to choose.
The Bush administration argued in defense of the law that fetuses feel pain during such “inhumane” procedures.
The law, signed in November by President Bush, has not been enforced because judges in New York, Lincoln, Neb., and San Francisco agreed to hear evidence in three separate trials before deciding whether it violates the Constitution.
The law is the first substantial limitation on abortion since the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision. The current cases also appear likely to reach the high court.
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link:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4615570/