Judge Holds Up Texas Ultrasound Law
A U.S. District Judge has blocked recently passed legislation in Texas which would have required an ultrasound to be shown to the mother and have them hear the baby’s heartbeat prior to performing an abortion. An injunction was filed regarding the bill preventing it from going into effect on September 1, 2011. You can review a copy of the injunction here. Here’s an excerpt from LifeNews:
The new law in Texas allowing women considering an abortion a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child beforehand is supposed to go into effect any day now, but that may not happen thanks to an activist judge.The law is slated to take effect on Thursday, but abortion advocates filed a lawsuit seeking to stop it and the case could take years to sort out in court.U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks today issued an injunction in advance of the September 1 date the law is supposed to go into effect.He ruled in a two-page order that parts of the state’s new sonogram law are unconstitutional and prevented Texas officials from issuing any fines or penalties against abortion practitioners who do not follow the law while the lawsuit continues. He claimed Texas has no right to tell abortion practitioners they should allow women a chance to see an ultrasound of an abortion — even though one is typically done to determine the age of the baby at the time of the abortion. Judge Sparks also claimed the law is supposedly vague and contradictory and makes it so abortion practitioners who think they are following the law could be running afoul of it.
I'm sorry, how is this law unconstitutional? Of all the pointless, time-consuming, money-eating, tedious, bs laws in the books that weren't challenged for constitutional reasons, on what grounds was this one?