Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down a Michigan law banning “partial-birth abortion.” According to the court’s opinion, written by Judge Boyce Martin, the statute imposed an unconstitutional “undue burden” on a woman’s right to an abortion under applicable Supreme Court precedent. State partial-birth abortion bans are consitutional, the court held, so long as they do not constitute an “undue burden.” Michigan’s statute, however, went too far because it could be construed to prohibit other procedures. As the Court concluded,
We certainly are reluctant to interfere with a statute that represents the will of the elected representatives of the people of Michigan, and do not do so lightly. If, however, the Michigan legislature had sought in good faith to enact a statute that prohibited the abortion procedures it deemed objectionable while complying with the limits imposed by the Constitution, it had plenty of guidance on how to proceed. The Supreme Court