A COURT has blocked crucial parts of a Texas anti-abortion law drawn up by Rick Perry, the state’s governor and the leading Republican presidential candidate, which would force women seeking terminations to view a sonogram and listen to the heartbeat of their foetus.
A federal court judge also struck down a requirement that doctors describe the unborn baby to the mother in the hope she would change her mind about an abortion. The judge said the provisions were an unconstitutional intrusion into the rights of women and doctors.
Mr Perry designated the law, which would have taken effect today, as an “emergency issue”, fast-tracking it through the legislature earlier this year.
He has a clear lead in polls of Republican primary voters as the party’s presidential candidate. Opponents say he has used the law to demonstrate his anti-abortion credentials to conservatives and the Christian right, and to create an election issue. He has also drawn criticism for the unusual degree of government intrusion into a personal decision, not least because he is a vigorous critic of regulation. He has promised that, if elected, he will make the government in Washington mostly “inconsequential” to people’s lives.
The judge, Sam Sparks, said it was not legal to force either women or doctors to meet the requirements relating to viewing the sonogram and listening to the baby’s heartbeat. He also struck down a provision that could strip a doctor of a licence to practise for failing to comply.
“The act compels physicians to advance an ideological agenda with which they may not agree, regardless of any medical necessity, and irrespective of whether the pregnant women wish to listen,” the judge said. “[It] violates the first amendment [of the US constitution, guaranteeing free speech] by compelling physicians and patients to engage in government-mandated speech and expression.”
The law exempted women pregnant through rape or incest, but only if they made an objection in writing. The court blocked this part of the legislation, too.
“The court need not belabour the obvious by explaining why, for instance, women who are pregnant as a result of sexual assault or incest may not wish to certify that fact in writing, particularly if they are too afraid of retaliation to even report the matter to police,” Judge Sparks said.
The Centre for Reproductive Rights, which brought the case to block the legislation, called the ruling a huge victory, saying politicians had no right to interfere in how doctors practised medicine, or in women’s private medical decisions.
Mr Perry denounced the ruling, which is expected to go to the supreme court on appeal.
“Every life lost to abortion is a tragedy and today’s ruling is a great disappointment to all Texans who stand in defence of life,” he said. “This important sonogram legislation ensures that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying, and understands the devastating impact of such a life-changing decision.”
But the ruling is likely to help Mr Perry by fuelling his argument that power should lie with state governments rather than the courts or Washington. Critics have noted that he showed little interest in abortion when a member of the Texas legislature, but embraced it when he became governor in 2000. – (Guardian service)