N.C. abortion restriction violates free speech, judges rule
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Version 0 of 1. A Richmond appeals court panel on Monday rejected a North Carolina law requiring that women seeking abortions first undergo ultrasounds, with the fetal image displayed and described to them in detail by a doctor. The three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s finding that the 2011 law violated the free speech of doctors by forcing them to provide the image and description even if the woman averted her eyes or actively tried not to listen. “The First Amendment not only protects against prohibitions of speech, but also against regulations that compel speech,” the panel wrote in its 37-page opinion. The regulation “forces physicians to say things they otherwise would not say,” the judges said. “Moreover, the statement compelled here is ideological; it conveys a particular opinion. The state freely admits that the purpose … is to convince women seeking abortions to change their minds or reassess their decisions.” The law, which was passed in 2011 but went unimplemented as the courts weighed it, was fairly extensive in terms of what it required doctors to tell patients. The ultrasound screen had to be positioned in such a way that the woman could see it. The doctor had to describe the presence, location and dimensions of the fetus along with the number of fetuses present and if any organs were present. If a woman did not want to hear or see, she could close her ears and look away. Several other states, including Virginia, have ultrasound requirements, with some requiring women to undergo internal “transvaginal” ultrasounds before obtaining an abortion. Only a handful, however, have gone so far as North Carolina, and courts have had mixed opinions about such laws, upholding them in Texas and striking them down in Oklahoma. On Monday, the North Carolina attorney general’s office said they would ask the Supreme Court to take up the matter to resolve the conflicting opinions in Texas and Richmond. Abortion rights groups, meanwhile, cheered the development. “We’re thrilled that the appellate court rejected this unconscionable attempt to intrude on the doctor-patient relationship,” Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “Exam rooms are no place for propaganda, and doctors should never be forced to serve as mouthpieces for politicians who wish to shame and demean women.”
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