4th U.S. Court of Appeals Declares Virginia PBA Ban Unconstitutional

Yesterday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared Virginia's ban on partial-birth abortions to be unconstitutional.

Now, you may ask-- "how is that possible in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Gonzales v. Carhart?"

Well, the 4th Circuit decided that because the federal ban was more explicit in its definition of what was banned.

What happens now?

According to AP, the state has two weeks to ask a full appeals court to review the panel's ruling or the state has 90 days to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Of the three judge's on the panel, only one, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer argued that the statute was "virtually identical" to the federal ban that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld.

Another judge argued that the statute imposed an "undue burden" upon women seeking an abortion (and that judge was joined by the third for a majority).

I say horse puckey-- two of the three judges on this appeals court panel were determined to find some way of declaring the law unconstitutional and so they did.