U.S. top court declines to revive North Dakota abortion limits
Source: Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected North Dakota's bid to revive a restrictive Republican-backed law struck down by a lower court that would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks after conception.
The court turned away the state's appeal, leaving in place a July 2015 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked the 2013 law. North Dakota's law was among the strictest of a series of statutes passed at the state level imposing limits on abortion.
The law was challenged by North Dakota's only abortion clinic, the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo.
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In the North Dakota case, the appeals court had said it was bound in its ruling by U.S. Supreme Court precedent on abortion, which holds that states may not prohibit abortions before a fetus reaches viability. But the appeals court said "good reasons exist" for the high court to re-evaluate its past abortion decisions in light of medical and scientific advances that show the concept of viability is subject to change.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-abortion-idUSKCN0V31TJ
World | Mon Jan 25, 2016 9:40am EST
WASHINGTON | BY LAWRENCE HURLEY
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