A North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to first give a woman an ultrasound and describe the images in detail is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. This circuit court ruling upholds a lower-court decision from January, The Huffington Post reports.
The Woman's Right to Know Act was passed by a Republican-controlled legislature in 2011 over the veto of a Democratic governor. The doctor was also required to ask patients if they wanted to listen to fetal heartbeats. Those who didn't comply faced losing their medical licenses.
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Other provisions in the act, like a mandatory 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, are still set to go into effect. The debate over the ultrasound provision could very well head to the Supreme Court.
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