A federal appeals court has struck an Arkansas law banning abortions past 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in a ruling Wednesday that the law violates the Supreme Court precedent that states can’t limit abortion past “viability” — the point at which a fetus could survive outside the womb.
“By banning abortions after 12 weeks’ gestation, the act prohibits women from making the ultimate decision to terminate a pregnancy at a point before viability,” the court wrote.
The decision upholds a lower court ruling last year that blocked the Arkansas law. Banning most abortions before the first trimester of pregnancy has ended, it’s one of strictest prohibitions in the country, surpassed only by measures banning abortions after a heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks.
Two states have passed such “heartbeat” laws — Arkansas and North Dakota — but both provisions have also been blocked by courts.
While the three-judge appeals panel said it is bound by past court decisions to strike the 12-week ban, the judges also warned that scientific advances are pushing the point of viability earlier in pregnancy, potentially shifting the standard of when abortion could be banned.
“Medical and technological advances along with mankind’s ever increasing knowledge of prenatal life … render more critical the parties’ obligation to assure that the court has the benefit of an adequate scientific record in cases where the standard is applied,” wrote the justices, all of whom were appointed by President George W. Bush.
Abortion rights advocates applauded the decision. “Today’s ruling affirms that safely and legally ending a pregnancy remains a protected constitutional right in this country,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
