Several groups today filed a federal lawsuit against North Carolina today over the state's new law requiring women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion and requiring doctors to show and describe to them an ultrasound.
Today the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation, Planned Parenthood Health Systems, Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a new North Carolina law that requires abortion providers to force women to undergo an ultrasound and forces doctors to describe the embryo or fetus to the women in detail prior to having an abortion, even if the woman objects. The lawsuit, filed in the federal district court for the Middle District of North Carolina, alleges that the new law violates the rights of health care providers and women seeking abortions.
The new law, which was passed by the N.C. General Assembly despite a veto by the governor, requires that every woman, regardless of her circumstances, undergo state-directed biased counseling and endure two state-imposed waiting periods before she can have an abortion in North Carolina. A copy of the complaint and relevant legal papers can be found online at www.acluofnc.org.
