the fourth circuit court of appeals has upheld virginia’s (previously overturned) “Partial Birth Infanticide Act,” which apparently criminalized a specific abortion method.

although it isn’t clear to the layperson (read: me) which procedure was banned, the wp describes this:

Although the Virginia law permits women to choose various abortion procedures, it specifically makes it a crime for doctors to perform a rare midterm abortion that involves partially delivering the fetus before crushing its skull to ease removal.

i haven’t yet had a chance to read the opinion myself, but the post’s coverage indicates that the majority’s opinion essentially reasoned that doctors’ criminal liability for performing this type of procedure is so unlikely that the fact of the criminal liability isn’t enough to invalidate the law.

the entire purpose of the law is to criminalize that abortion procedure. if it’s exceedingly unlikely to fulfill its purpose, the law is unnecessary legal accretion and has no reason to be cluttering up the books. taking the majority’s assertion (as interpreted by the post; as i mentioned, i haven’t yet read the opinion) at face value, if doctors are unlikely to actually face criminal prosecution for performing the procedure, and yet there’s substantial pressure to retain the law, there must be some other reason driving the decision.

hmmm. i wonder what it could be.

abortion opponents are apparently very willing to criminalize doctors’ therapeutic decisions. they seem to ignore the fact that if the doctor is committing a crime, then the woman is an accessory to the crime, and guilty of conspiracy as well. abortion opponents should be honest about their intent, and attempt to hold the woman criminally responsible as well. let’s see how far legislative efforts would go then.