On Wednesday, a federal appeals court struck down a controversial North Carolina abortion law that forced doctors to show and describe in detail the ultrasound images to women with or without their consent before performing an abortion.
The law, which has been passed then appealed again, was originally approved in 2011 and was blocked in court in October of that same year, as well as in January 2014. Any further appeal will now have to be taken up with the Supreme Court, which could happen in 2015.
Since the ruling, the law has been viewed by women’s rights advocates as a deliberate and personal attack by conservative lawmakers, aimed at limiting a woman’s right to choose what happens to her own body.
Barbara Holt, president of North Carolina Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization, told Reuters that requiring doctors to show and describe ultrasound images to women seeking an abortion would give those women “an opportunity to pause and really take into consideration what decision she’s making.”
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