US judge strikes Arkansas' 12-week abortion ban
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge Friday struck down Arkansas' attempt to ban most abortions beginning 12 weeks into a woman's pregnancy, saying viability, not a heartbeat, remains the key factor in determining whether abortions should be allowed.
U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright last year had stopped enforcement of the law while she reviewed it, and on Friday she declared that it was unconstitutional. She cited previous court decisions that said abortions shouldn't be restricted until after a fetus reaches viability, or when a fetus could be expected to survive outside the womb. That is typically at 22 to 24 weeks.
"The state presents no evidence that a fetus can live outside the mother's womb at twelve weeks," the judge wrote.
By adopting a ban based on a fetal heartbeat, and not the ability to survive, the Arkansas Legislature had adopted the nation's toughest abortion law last March. Two weeks later, North Dakota lawmakers passed a bill restricting abortions at six weeks — or before some women would know they're pregnant. That law is on hold.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-judge-strikes-arkansas-12-week-abortion-ban
= new reply since forum marked as read
And a major pox on those states trying to outlaw abortion.
Abortion stops a beating heart............yeah, right. 
Those so-called pro-lifers stopped using their brains, probably decades ago.
