Newspaper Page Text
8A Saturday, June 29, 2019
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
Justices won’t revive Alabama ban on abortion
J. SCOn APPLEWHITE I Associated Press
In this June 17, photo, The Supreme Court is shown in
Washington.
BY MARK SHERMAN
AND KIM CHANDLER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
Supreme Court won’t revive
Alabama’s attempt to ban
the most commonly used
procedure in second-trimes
ter abortions after the mea
sure was blocked by lower
courts.
The justices on Friday
rejected the state’s appeal
and declined to review
a lower court ruling that
blocked the law. The 2016
Alabama law sought to
ban the abortion proce
dure known as dilation and
evacuation, a procedure
Alabama Attorney General
Steve Marshall referred to
in court filings as “dismem
berment abortion.”
Lower courts blocked
similar laws in Kansas, Okla
homa, Louisiana, Texas and
Arkansas, but this was the
first case to go before the
Supreme Court, according
to the American Civil Lib
erties Union, which chal
lenged the Alabama law.
Court records show 93%
of abortions in Alabama
occur before 15 weeks of
pregnancy. For the 7% of
abortions that occur later,
almost all are by dilation
and evacuation.
Randall Marshall, execu
tive director of the Ameri
can Civil Liberties Union
of Alabama, said the ban
would have effectively
ended access to second
trimester abortions in Ala
bama if it had been allowed
to take effect.
“We are not surprised by
the Supreme Court’s deci
sion to deny reviewing this
case. In doing so, they are
upholding the Supreme
Court’s own precedent in
protecting a woman’s right
to access the healthcare she
needs. A woman’s health,
not Alabama politicians,
should drive personal medi
cal decisions,” Marshall
said.
Justice Clarence Thomas,
who supports overturning
the Roe v. Wade decision
that first declared abor
tion rights, did not dissent
from the decision to pass
on the Alabama case, but
described the abortion pro
cedure at issue as “particu
larly gruesome.”
“The notion that anything
in the Constitution prevents
States from passing laws
prohibiting the dismem
bering of a living child is
implausible,” Thomas said.
Two Alabama abortion
clinics and the ACLU had
challenged the 2016 law in
court.
U.S. District Judge Myron
Thompson found that it
would amount to a virtual
ban on abortion in the state
after 15 weeks of preg
nancy. The 11th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals affirmed
Thompson’s ruling blocking
the law, but two of the three
judges on the panel said
they voted to affirm only
because they are bound by
past Supreme Court deci
sions in support of abortion
rights.
The Friday decision
comes as some conserva
tive states are seeking to
enact far-reaching restric
tions on abortion.
Alabama lawmakers
this year passed a law
that would ban almost all
abortions in the state, in
the hopes of sparking a
new court case that might
prompt justices to revisit
Roe.
That near-total abortion
ban, which is slated to take
effect in November, is fac
ing a challenge in court.
Marshall said the Friday
decision on the procedure
ban is perhaps a sign that
justices, “are not ready to
go in and make sweeping
changes.”
Senate fails to limit Trump’s
war powers amid Iran tensions
BY LISA MASCARO
AND DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Politi
cal unease over the White
House’s tough talk
against Iran is
reviving questions
about President
Donald Trump’s
ability to order mili
tary strikes with
out approval from
Congress.
The Senate fell
short Friday, in a
50-40 vote, on an
amendment to a sweep
ing Defense bill that would
require congressional sup
port before Trump acts.
It didn’t reach the 60-vote
threshold needed for pas
sage. But lawmakers said
the majority showing sent a
strong message that Trump
cannot continue relying
on the nearly two-decade-
old war authorizations
Congress approved in the
aftermath of the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks. The House is
expected to take up the issue
next month.
“A congressional vote is
a pretty good signal of what
our constituents are telling
us — that another war in
the Middle East would be a
disaster right now,
we don’t want the
president to just do
it on a whim,” said
Sen. Tim Kaine,
D-Va., a co-author
of the measure with
Sen. Tom Udall,
D-N.M.
“My gut tells
me that the White
House is realizing
this is deeply unpopular
with the American public.”
The effort in the Sen
ate signals discomfort with
Trump’s approach to for
eign policy. Four Republi
cans joined most Democrats
in supporting the amend
ment, but it faces steep
resistance from the White
House and the Pentagon
wrote a letter opposing it.
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell called it
nothing more than another
example of “Trump
Derangement Syndrome,”
which he explained as what
ever the president’s for
“they seem to be against.”
McConnell said putting
restrictions on the White
House would “hamstring”
the president’s ability to
respond militarily at a
time of escalating tension
between the U.S. and Iran.
“They have gratuitously
chosen to make him the
enemy,” McConnell said.
“Rather than work with the
president to deter our actual
enemy, they have chosen to
make him the enemy.”
Trump’s approach to
the standoff with Iran and
his assertion earlier this
week that he doesn’t need
congressional approval to
engage militarily has only
sparked fresh questions and
hardened views in Congress.
Trump tweeted last week
that the U.S. came within
minutes of striking Iran
in response to its shooting
down of an unmanned U.S.
drone until he told the mili
tary to stand down. He said
he was concerned over an
Iranian casualty count esti
mated at 150.
McConnell
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