Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Nation & World Supreme Court considers state laws on partial-birth abortions by Richard Carelli The Associated Press Washington — In the Supreme Court’s most important abortion case since 1992, six of the nine justices voiced concern Tuesday over a Nebraska law, similar to those in 29 other states, banning a surgical procedure that op ponents call “partial-birth abortion,” The emotional issue of abortion re turned to the nation’s highest court with noisy sidewalk demonstrations outside the courtroom hearing. “The state interest here is drawing a bright line between abortion and in fanticide,” Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg argued in seeking rein statement of a law that made it a crime for doctors to perform-partial birth abortions. But Simon Heller, representing a Nebraska doctor, said none of the state’s purported interests “is sufficient to over ride ... a woman’s interest in her health and bodily integrity.” The Nebraska law, he said, is “so broadly written it could prohibit most second-trimester abortions” and lead to making all abortions “more dangerous for women.” Questions and comments front two key justices — Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony M. Kennedy — indicat ed concern over the state law’s sweep. O’Connor noted that the procedure Stenberg said was the target of Nebras ka’s ban “may be very similar to” a type of abortion used far more often. Partial-birth abortion is not a med ical term. Doctors call the method di lation and extraction, or D&X, because it involves partially extracting a fetus, legs first, from the uterus into the birth canal, where the skull is cut and its con tents drained. A more common procedure is dila tion and evacuation, or D&E, in which an arm or leg of a live fetus might be pulled into the birth canal during the abortion operation. Calling both methods “gruesome,” O’Connor asked Stenberg, “Do you take the position that the state of Ne braska could also prohibit D&E abor tions for pre-viability pregnancies?” When Stenbeig said he did not take that position “for purposes of this case,” O’Connor shot back, “It is difficult to read the statute and think that is so.” Justices David H. Souter, John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer seemed to doubt the Nebraska law’s constitutionality. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Antonin Scalia, who along with Justice Clarence Thomas voted in 1992 to let states ban all abortions, were clearly more sympathetic to the Ne braska law. Scalia discussed the “horror” of D&X abortions, which he repeatedly described as taking “a living, unborn child” from the uterus and “killing that unborn child.” The 1992 ruling—the court’s most recent major abortion decision—reaf firmed the core holding of the court’s 1973 Roe vs. Wide decision. That land mark ruling said women have a consti tutional right to end their pregnancies. Led by O’Connor, Kennedy and Souter, the court said eight years ago that states cannot impose any “undue burden” on that right. Nebraska’s law is not an undue bur den, Stenbeig said, no more than Penn sylvania’s 24-hour waiting period to get an abortion, which the court approved in 1992. But Ginsbuig interrupted to say Ne braska’s law, unlike the waiting period, is not aimed at protecting a woman’s health or fetal life. “This law seems out of the bounds that this court has set for pre-viability regulation,” she said. Past abortion rulings make clear that states can take numerous steps to pro tect a viable fetus, one able to survive outside the uterus. Viability generally occurs sometime around the sixth month of pregnancy. Outside the court, anti-abortion and abortion-rights activists braved a driving rainstorm as they tried to outdo each other with signs and slogans. Police of ficers arrested 23 anti-abortion demon strators who ignored orders to remove signs that were larger than a federal reg ulation allows. The court’s decision is expected by late June, but the debate over partial birth abortions already has played a role in presidential politics. The Clinton administration is ask ing the court to strike down Nebraska’s law. The president twice vetoed simi lar federal ban%enacted by Congress. In the presidential race, Democrat A1 Gore opposes bans on partial-birth abortion, but Republican George W. Bush sup ports them. The Republican-controlled House voted 287-141 three weeks ago to out law partial-birth abortions — the third time in five years such a ban was backed. While the majority was wide enough to override Clinton’s promised veto, the bill’s supporters again appear to be short the two-thirds majority they would need to prevail in the Senate. Nebraska’s law, along with those in Arkansas and Iowa, were invalidated by a unanimous three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But a month later, another federal ap peals court upheld partial-birth abor tion laws in Wisconsin and Illinois. The state interest here is drawing a bright line between abortion and infanticide.’ Don Stenberg Nebraska Attorney General ♦ Congratulations and Thank You FIVE POINTS 2001 Devine Street Juvenile justice system rife with racial disparities, report says by Anjetta McQueen The Associated Press Washington —A black youth is six times more likely to be locked up than a white peer, even when charged with a similar crime and when neither has a pri or record, says a new civil rights report contending racial bias exists at every step of the juvenile justice process. Many policies and practices have led to a “cumulative disadvantage” for black and Latino youth, civil rights leaders and youth advocates said Tuesday as they re leased the report by the Youth Law Cen ter. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a criminal justice think tank, did the research. Minority youth are more likely than white youth who commit comparable crimes to be referred to juvenile court, be detained, face trial as adults and be jailed with adults, the report said. “It is astounding our nation can tol erate such gross inequality,” said William Spriggs, director of research and public policy for the Urban League. “We can not have a justice system that works this way.” The report comes at a time when high profile violence — like Monday’s shoot ing of several youth following a scuffle at the National Zoo’s annual black fam ily celebration — is driving harsher ju venile punishment even as the rate of crime by young people decreases. Since 1992,47 states have expanded their laws to punish more juveniles as adults not only for murder, but also for drug crimes, weapons possession and bur glary. The report calls for states to stop incarcerating young people with adults, noting three in four youths imprisoned with adults are minorities. “We’re taking youngsters, children, and putting them in the worst location,” Spriggs said. “It reverses a long trend in American policy not to have children im prisoned with hardened adult criminals.” Researchers used data from state and federal arrest records, juvenile court actions, detention, waivers to adult court and incarceration. They found, for example, that black youth are 15 percent of the population under 18 but comprise one-third of youth referred to, formally processed by and convicted in juvenile court. Blacks also account for 40 percent of the youths sent to adult courts and 58 percent of the youths sent to adult prison, said the report, “And Justice For Some.” The Urban League and other civil rights groups joined in its release. Figures for Latino youth might be un derstated because most state court and prison records designate them as white, said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. The groups nonetheless praised the comprehensive report, which followed several recent juvenile justice studies, as hard evidence of something they’ve long suspected: Minority youth are victims of racial bias built into the justice system. Even when types of crime were con sidered, minorities were more likely to go to jail or prison. Among youth with no prior record arrested for violent crimes, including murder, rape and robbery, 137 out of every 100,000 blacks were in carcerated, compared with 15 out of every 100,000 whites. For drug offenses, which can carry a wide range of penalties, the number was 48 for black youth and only 1 out of 100,000 for whites. Critics say the skewed numbers could mean simply that black teens and chil dren are committing more crimes or more serious crimes. Researchers admit deter mining that is “much more complicat ed. ” But they maintained that many poli cies discriminate against low-income youth — who are overwhelmingly mi nority, from single-parent homes or in foster care. “Obviously, racial profiling, target ing patrols in certain low-income neigh borhoods and racial bias within the jus tice system contribute significantly to the stark disparities confirmed in this report,” said Hilary O. Shelton, Washington bu reau director for the National Associa tion for the Advancement of Colored People. The groups said Congress should give the Justice Department at least $100 mil lion to study and fix racial disparities. It should also keep requiring states that get federal juvenile justice grants to address the issue, said Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., a member of the House Judiciary Com mittee, which oversees most juvenile jus tice laws and programs. That requirement is missing from a Senate version of the juvenile justice bill held up by gun-control disputes, Scott said. ‘It is astounding our nation can tolerate such gross inequality. We cannot have a justice system that works this way.’ William Spriggs Director of Research and Public Policy, Urban League ^OMIN^miiEATRE^^TI^