ST. LOUIS (CN) - An anti-abortion group is too late to intervene in the fight against tougher informed-consent procedures in Nebraska, the 8th Circuit ruled.
Planned Parenthood filed suit last year over a new Nebraska law that imposes tougher requirements on state abortion providers. A federal judge sided with Planned Parenthood, ruling that the law imposed impossible, unduly vague requirements for abortion providers.
NuLife Pregnancy Resource Center, which provides various services to women, challenged that ruling twice. NuLife first filed an unsuccessful motion to intervene, seeking reconsideration of the decision. A month after the court issued its final judgment that the law was unconstitutional, NuLife filed yet another motion to intervene, this time as an intervening defendant. That motion failed as well.
A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit unanimously upheld both decisions, agreeing that the group lacked standing and made untimely claims.
"The record demonstrates the District Court considered the proper factors, including the fact the litigation was terminated procedurally, NuLife failed to justify its delay in light of its prior knowledge of the case, and the parties would be prejudiced because final judgment on their settlement had already been entered," Judge Kermit E. Bye wrote for the court.
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