US top court to decide second abortion law case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court said on
Monday it would expand its review of a federal law banning some
abortion procedures and would decide a California case on
whether the law was too vague and imposed a burden on women.

The justices in February agreed to rule on a Nebraska case
on whether the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is
unconstitutional because it lacks an exception to protect the
health of a pregnant woman.

The California case involved additional issues on whether
the law imposed an undue burden on a woman’s right to seek an
abortion and whether it is unconstitutionally vague. A U.S.
appeals court declared the law unconstitutional and upheld an
injunction barring its enforcement.

Both cases will be decided in the upcoming term that begins
in October. The law represents the first nationwide ban on an
abortion procedure since the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973
ruling that women have a constitutional right to abortion.