NEWS The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 9, 2004 - 9A Partial-Birth Abortion Ban dealt new blow by Neb. federal judge LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A third federal judge has ruled the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional, adding judicial weight that some experts say could keep the issue from reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln ruled against the measure yesterday, saying Congress ignored the most experienced doc- tors when it determined that the Judges in banned procedure would never be necessary to protect the health of and San I the mother - a finding he called "unreasonable."haea ec His ruling echoed decisions by ruled the federal judges in New York and San Francisco. The abortion ban unconstit was signed last year by President Bush but was not enforced because the three judges agreed to hear constitutional challenges in simultane- ous nonjury trials. The ban, which President Clinton twice had vetoed, was seen by abortion rights activists as a fundamental departure from the Supreme Court's 1973 precedent in Roe v. Wade. But the Bush administration has argued that the so-called partial birth procedure is cruel and unnecessary and causes pain to the fetus. If each judge is upheld by federal appeals courts, the high court might not take up the issue, said Pricilla Smith, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. "If all the appellate courts uphold those decisions, I F a, -4 there is no reason for it to go to the Supreme Court," Smith said. Not everyone agreed. "It's very unusual for the court not to take a case where an act of Congress has been struck down," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, which supports the ban. "I would be very surprised if the court took a New York pass on this." The Nebraska lawsuit was filed rancisco by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of physicians idy including LeRoy Carhart, who ban also brought the challenge that led the high court in 2000 to overturn itional. a similar ban passed by Nebraska lawmakers. "The Supreme Court already said what the law is four years ago," Smith said. "The judges all across the country, from different political persuasions, applied the law and uniformly found it unconstitutional." Louise Melling, director of the American Civil Lib- erties Union's Reproductive Freedom Project, agreed with Smith. "What you have is a decision of a mere four years ago striking a similar ban," she said. "And now you have three courts striking a ban for the same reason." Smith said, however, that if there is a change in the makeup of the high court through presidential appoint- ments, it might still hear the issue even if the appeals courts uphold the decisions. "And that, of course, is what the proponents of the law have been hoping for all along," she said. The Justice Department already has filed an appeal of the San Francisco ruling and said in a statement Wednesday that it "will continue to defend the law to protect innocent new life from partial-birth abortion." In his ruling, Kopf said "according to responsible medical opinion, there are times when the banned pro- cedure is medically necessary to preserve the health of a woman and a respectful reading of the congressional record proves that point. "No reasonable and unbiased person could come to a different conclusion." The federal law bars a procedure doctors called "intact dilation and extraction," or D&X, and oppo- nents call partial-birth abortion. During the proce- dure, generally performed in the second trimester, a fetus is partially removed from the womb and its skull is punctured or crushed. The law contains an exception when the life of the mother - but not her health - is at risk. Backers of the ban said a health exception would open a major loophole, allowing abortions even when the mental health of the mother is in question. Kopf agreed with Carhart and his lawyers, who said the law is vague and could be interpreted as covering more common, less controversial procedures, includ- ing "dilatation and evacuation," or D&E, which is the most common method of second-trimester abortion. A total of 1.3 million abortions are performed in the United States each year. Almost 90 percent occur in the first trimester. Congress leaders to allow assault weapons ban to expire WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress will not vote on an assault weapons ban due to expire Monday, Republican leaders said yesterday, rejecting a last-ditch effort by sup- porters to renew it. "I think the will of the American people is consistent with letting it expire, so it will expire," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) told reporters. The 10-year ban, signed by President Clinton in 1994, out- lawed 19 types of military-style assault weapons. A clause directed that the ban expire unless Congress specifically reauthorized it. ban. Bush has said he would sign such a bill if Congress passed it. "If the president asked me, it'd still be no ... because we don't have the votes to pass an assault weapons ban and it will expire Monday and that's that," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters later. DeLay said the ban was "a feel-good piece of legislation" that does nothing to keep weapons out of the hands of crimi- nals. Appearing at a news conference, chiefs of police from the District of Columbia, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Seattle "Our streets, our homes, our citizens and our police offi- cers will face great danger unless the federal ban on assault weapons is renewed," said Charles Ramsey, the police chief in the nation's capital. In March, the Senate voted to add the ban to a bill that would have immunized gun manufacturers from liability suits stemming from violent gun crimes. But the Senate voted 90 to 8 against the final bill after the National Rifle Associa- tion urged its defeats. NRA President Wayne LaPierre said in an interview with The Associated Press that his group is so confident that Con- gress won't renew the ban that it is not spending any more money on ads this year opposing it. "I think the will of the American people is consistent with letting it expire." - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) He said supporters of the ban could not muster the sup- port needed to bring it to a vote in the House because several Democrats attribute losing their majority in the House in 1994 over votes then in favor of the ban. Some Democrats and several police leaders said Presi- predicted an increase in violent gun crimes if the ban does dent Bush should try to persuade Congress to renew the expire. 530 S. State St. 734.763.TKTS located on the ground floor of the michigan union Your one-stop source for on- campus concerts and plays, student events, transportation, discount Cedar Point tickets and much more! www.mutotix.com a. A ONO VsJVJOMf s 10%) ~VCiTo 5Io l 4T' N~~ MuSWIdWO ,5 roIW~~ ~c'Ltts 1T~f N ,U ~JCONTEST$ 45t I J~G %IOU pET ~ Tt~S2~ 1< ..