Appeals court told limits on abortion pill are unconstitutional

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-21/113397986642360.xml&storylist=cleveland

12/7/2005, 1:10 p.m. ET
By TERRY KINNEY
The Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio law goes too far by limiting use of the abortion pill RU-486 within seven weeks of a woman's pregnancy because it does not provide exceptions where a woman's health or life is at risk, attorneys for Planned Parenthood groups in Ohio argued Wednesday.

"The law doesn't further the state's interest in women's health," attorney Nicole Berner told a three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel didn't say when it would rule.

The state is challenging U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott's preliminary order barring it from implementing the law restricting use of RU-486 to women no more than seven weeks pregnant. She said in September 2004 that the plaintiffs — three regional Planned Parenthood groups in Ohio, Preterm of Cleveland and two private practitioners — likely would win at trial.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of mifepristone — known as RU-486 — in 2000 for women who want a nonsurgical abortion, but recommended that it be limited to within seven weeks of pregnancy...