Most of Pennsylvania’s Abortion Law Upheld

PHILADELPHIA —  A federal appeals court Monday upheld most provisions of Pennsylvania’s strict abortion law, which mandates parental consent for minors and requires doctors to discuss potential dangers and alternatives.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals cited a U.S. Supreme Court opinion by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

“She has consistently stated that she would subject an abortion regulation to strict scrutiny review only if the regulation ‘unduly burdens’ a woman’s freedom to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy,” Appeals Judge Walter Stapleton wrote.

Pennsylvania’s law, which was revised in 1989, requires women to wait 24 hours after they provide informed consent to an abortion. It also requires doctors to advise women of potential medical dangers of abortion and of the alternatives available. Minors may not obtain abortions unless their parents consent and are present to hear information by doctors about alternatives.

Another provision required a woman to notify her spouse before getting an abortion. The appeals court overturned that provision as unconstitutional.

Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania and several women’s clinics had challenged the law’s constitutionality in U.S. District Court.

That court said the 14th Amendment barred sections of the law dealing with informed consent, parental consent, reporting requirements and public disclosure of clinical reports. U.S. District Judge Daniel H. Huyett had issued an injunction preventing those parts of the law from taking effect.

But Stapleton said those provisions were not unconstitutional. The appeals court ruling has the effect of lifting the injunction.

Stapleton insisted that the ruling did not reverse Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion.

But lawyers for women’s rights groups said it meant an end to the constitutional right to an abortion.

“This is the first court to overturn Roe vs. Wade,” said Phil Gutis, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union, which had fought the Pennsylvania law.

Attorney Kathryn Kolbert, who had argued the case in the 3rd Circuit, said the abortion clinics that fought the law probably would seek to re-argue the case before all 10 judges of the 3rd Circuit.