NC Can't Force 'Narrated' Ultrasound Before Abortion

Supreme Court today refused to hear an appeal
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 15, 2015 12:25 PM CDT
NC Can't Force 'Narrated' Ultrasound Before Abortion
This photo taken Oct. 3, 2014, shows the Supreme Court in Washington.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Some North Carolina officials had their hopes dashed today by the Supreme Court, which declined to hear their appeal to revive what Reuters terms "narrated ultrasounds": a requirement that abortion providers perform an ultrasound and display and describe that ultrasound to a woman seeking an abortion—even if she physically tries to not look or listen. The law did not include any exception for cases of rape, incest, or severe fetal anomalies, per the AP. The New York Times reports the justices did so without explanation, and the paper references a customary "one-sentence order" and Justice Antonin Scalia's unexplained dissent. As such, an appeals court ruling that found the law violates the First Amendment stands.

Reaction from the two sides:

  • ACLU of North Carolina: "We're very glad the courts have recognized that politicians have no business interfering in personal medical decisions that should be left to a woman and her doctor."
  • North Carolina Values Coalition: "In any other medical procedure, doctors would have a duty to disclose all of the relevant information, and, yet, a procedure as destructive and life-changing as abortion is held to a lower standard."
(More US Supreme Court stories.)

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