What's the value of a human life? Appeals court bans North Carolina law which requires doctors to explain ultrasound to those who want an abortion

Law banned as a violation of free speech

A U.S. appeals court has dismissed a law in North Carolina that is aimed at saving the lives of unborn children, claiming that ensuring a women sees an ultrasound and is told what is going on in the womb by a doctor is a violation of free speech.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - On December 22, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2011 decision that classifies the law as compelled speech, though it seems the court took some liberties in deciding the difference between free speech and medical regulations.

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"This compelled speech, even though it is a regulation of the medical profession, is ideological in intent and in kind," wrote Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson.

"While the state itself may promote through various means childbirth over abortion, it may not coerce doctors into voicing that message on behalf of the state in the particular manner and setting attempted here," he continued, writing on behalf of all three judges.

The measure that originally set up the law was passed by the Republican-led North Carolina legislature, defeating a veto by the state's then-Governor Beverly Perdue, a Democrat.

The measure provoked outrage by anti-life groups and groups like the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which attacked the law, and the Republican assembly --and in a way the unborn children and mothers the law was intended to protect and inform.

"We're thrilled that the appellate court rejected this unconscionable attempt to intrude on the doctor-patient relationship," said the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Nancy Northup.

The most attacked part of the measure? Requiring doctors to explain what is happening to a woman during an ultrasound procedure.

Republicans in North Carolina have defended that requirement as providing important and necessary information for women who are about to make a very permanent decision, a decision which could also impact their health.

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