Abortion rights advocates are claiming a first-round victory Thursday after an Idaho judge struck down a state law banning most abortions after 20 weeks – the first ruling about one of the fetal pain laws that a growing number of states have enacted.
The ruling, by a Democrat-nominated, district judge, begins a new phase in the legal fight over a spate of laws enacted in the past couple of years that push earlier and earlier bans on abortion, mostly based on the argument that a fetus can feel pain after 20 weeks. Arkansas is the most recent to act, passing both a 20-week ban and a 12-week one – constituting what abortion rights proponents consider the most restrictive state laws in the nation.
Source: Politico.com