A controversial ban on late-term abortions signed into law by US President George W. Bush last year was ruled unconstitutional today by a judge making the first court decision on the law.
San Francisco-based US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton said the law was unconstitutional because it was vague and posed an "undue burden" on abortion rights. Hamilton also ruled against the law because it lacked an exemption to protect a mother's health.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican and a key backer of the ban, said he was disappointed by the ruling and predicted it would eventually be overturned.
"I'm very disappointed in the decision today," he told reporters, calling the procedure of allowing late term abortions "shameful."
Judge Hamilton sided with Planned Parenthood in its lawsuit against the federal government, which had defended the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The law also faces separate challenges this month in federal courts in New York and Nebraska.
In her ruling, Judge Hamilton barred U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft from enforcing the law at Planned Parenthood's more than 900 clinics nationwide.
Planned Parenthood doctors also may continue performing the procedure at clinics and hospitals not affiliated with organization, said Beth Parker, an attorney representing the organization.
"She very much reaffirms a woman's right to choose," Parker said of Hamilton's decision.
The US Attorney General's office for Northern California was not immediately available for comment, although legal experts expected that it would move quickly to appeal the decision and get the injunction lifted.
The National Abortion Federation, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union praised Hamilton's ruling, saying they were "pleased that the court in San Francisco recognized that this ban is a broad attack on abortion beginning as early as 13 weeks in pregnancy."