Judge Strikes Down Idaho Law making Abortions after 20 Weeks Illegal

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A federal judge has struck down a 2011 Idaho law that banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the theory held by some physicians that the fetus can begin feeling pain at that point. Idaho was one of several states that followed Nebraska in adopting so-called fetal pain laws.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled late Wednesday in favor of Jennie Linn McCormack, of Pocatello, who sued the state after initially being charged with a felony for taking pills to terminate her pregnancy. A state judge later dismissed that case, but McCormack, who was 33 at the time, took her case to federal court, arguing the law was unconstitutional. Winmill agreed, finding the law places an undue burden on a woman's right to have an abortion.