RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday found North Carolina’s abortion law banning the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy is an unconstitutional restriction on women's access to health care.
The Richmond-based appeals court affirmed a lower court ruling and sided with North Carolina abortion providers in a challenge to the state’s longtime criminalization of abortions past 20 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.
The case scrutinized a state law passed in 1973 — the same year that the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision found abortion to be a constitutional right.
North Carolina’s law, like many similar laws in other states, bars women from ending a pregnancy after 20 weeks.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and other providers challenged the law in 2016 after the state’s Republican-led General Assembly passed several other abortion-related restrictions, including limits on who may perform abortions and a 72-hour waiting period to have the procedure after an initial clinic visit. State legislators also limited the medical emergencies that would allow a woman to be exempt from the 20-week rule.
In defense of the ban, North Carolina argued that since no providers have actually been prosecuted under the state law, they did not have standing to sue.
Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Diana Gribbon Motz disagreed.
"The providers have established a credible threat of prosecution and therefore have standing to bring this suit," Motz, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote in a 15-page opinion.
Motz found that the recent statutory changes "suggest that North Carolina has a renewed interest in regulating abortion."
“As a nation we remain deeply embroiled in debate over the legal status of abortion. While this conversation rages around us, this court cannot say that the threat of prosecution to abortion providers who violate the law is not credible,” she wrote.
Motz pointed to "a wave of similar state action across the country" and noted Tar Heel State has imposed heighted requirements on both abortion providers and women seeking the procedure, saying its interest in regulating abortion is “vividly apparent."
“Given these facts, we cannot reasonably assume that the abortion ban that North Carolina keeps on its books is “largely symbolic,'" she wrote.
U.S. Circuit Judges Albert Diaz, a Barack Obama appointee, and Julius Richardson, appointed by Donald Trump, joined in the unanimous decision.
The ruling upholds a decision from U.S. District Judge William Osteen, a George W. Bush appointee, who cited Supreme Court precedent in ruling that states cannot ban pre-viability abortions.
The Fourth Circuit opinion comes about a month after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a case over the constitutionality of “all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions." The dispute at issue involves a challenge to a 15-week abortion restriction in Mississippi.
“Today’s ruling is an important victory for our patients across North Carolina,” said Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, in a statement.
“Abortion remains inaccessible for many North Carolinians, and we will continue to protect and expand access to this essential health care,” Black added. “When people can make decisions about their pregnancies that are best for them, families thrive and we build communities where each of us can participate fully and with dignity. That is the vision that we are fighting for, and the court’s decision today brings us one step closer.”
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