Activist Kansas Judge Blocks Legislature’s Ban on Dismemberment Abortions
By Associated Press. A Kansas judge blocked the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on a procedure that opponents refer to as “dismemberment abortion”, concluding it would likely present too big an obstacle for women seeking to end their pregnancies.
Shawnee County district court judge Larry Hendricks ruled in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. The center represents two Kansas abortion providers and argued the law would force women to undergo riskier procedures or forgo abortions.
The center argued that the procedure banned by the law is used in 95% of second trimester abortions nationally and said previous US supreme court rulings don’t allow a state to ban the most common method for terminating a pregnancy. Hendricks said those arguments were likely to prevail, even though alternative abortion methods still would be legal.
“The alternatives do not appear to be medically necessary or reasonable,” Hendricks said from the bench.
The judge’s order will stay in effect while he considers the lawsuit further. The new law was supposed to take effect 1 July. (Read more from “Kansas Judge Blocks Ban on Dismemberment Abortions” HERE)
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Two Years Later, Family Remembers Baby Walter, Miscarried at 19 Weeks
By Nancy Flanders. Two years ago the Fretz family’s world was forever changed when their baby boy was born too soon. At just 19 weeks and six days gestation, Lexi Fretz rushed to the ER in labor. Due to an incompetent cervix, she gave birth to Walter Joshua Fretz five hours later.
“I was crying so hard,” she writes. “He was fully formed and everything was there. I could see his heart beating in his tiny chest.”
Walter’s father, Joshua Fretz, quickly went to get his camera. He took photographs of his wife, Walter, and his daughters. Although Walter lived for only a few moments, the photographs are now eternally famous.
After Walter passed away and the Lexi was discharged from the hospital, she shared the photos and the story of their loss on Facebook. That’s when Walter’s short life was given a lifetime of purpose . . .
Since losing Walter, the family has welcomed daughter number three to the family. Mia joined big sisters, Michayla and Emma, in the fall of 2014. A surgery at 13 weeks gestation allowed Lexi Fretz to carry Mia to term. Her sisters, devastated by the loss of their brother, were ecstatic to have a new baby to love. (Read more from this story HERE)
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