QUOTE OF THE DAY “We will rebuild, and we will regain
our strength.” Oklahoma Gov.
Mary Fallin, after touring the
Oklahoma City suburb where a tornado
destroyed countless
homes and killed two dozen people Article, 1AArizona abortion ban struck down
SAN FRANCISCO - A federal court Tuesday struck down Arizona’s ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy absent a medical emergency.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law violates a woman’s constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is able to survive outside the womb. “Viability” of a fetus is generally considered to start at 24 weeks. Normal pregnancies run about 40 weeks.
Nine other states have enacted similar bans starting at 20 weeks or even earlier.
Other courts had previously placed on hold or struck down several of those bans.
Judge Marsha Berzon, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel on the San Francisco-based court, said such bans before viability violate a long string of U.S.
Supreme Court rulings starting with the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
The judge wrote that “a woman has a constitutional right to choose to terminate her pregnancy before the fetus is viable.”
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the ban into law in April 2012 after it was approved by the Republican-led Legislature.
Photos of Giffords aftermath released
PHOENIX - Photos taken in the aftermath of the attack that killed six people and wounded former U.S.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords show the handgun, high-capacity pistol magazines and knife that Jared Lee Loughner carried with him during the January 2011 attack.
The 600 photos, released Tuesday, also show images of a credit-card record showing earplugs Loughner bought, and dozens of vehicles that were in the parking lot of the shopping center where the shooting unfolded.
The images were made public nearly two months after the Pima County sheriff’s office released roughly 2,700 pages of investigative reports examining the shooting.
Loughner was sentenced in November to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years, after he pleaded guilty to 19 federal charges.
Carney: President supports reporters
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama believes journalists shouldn’t be prosecuted for doing their jobs, the White House said Tuesday, showing solidarity with First Amendment advocates alarmed by high-profile federal probes into national security leaks.
Although Obama believes leaking classified information violates the law, he also believes that a free press is critical - and that questions being raised about the proper balance between those two concerns are entirely appropriate, said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
“I can’t comment on the specifics of any ongoing criminal matter,” Carney said. “But if you’re asking me whether the president believes that journalists should be prosecuted for doing their jobs, the answer is no.”
That was a departure from the day before when Carney declined to answer a question about whether it’s appropriate for a reporter who published classified information to be treated as a potential criminal. “I understand the question, and I appreciate it, but I cannot comment,” Carney said.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 05/22/2013