8th Circuit Reconsiders Abortion Issue

A federal appeals court will sit en banc today to reconsider an injunction blocking a South Dakota abortion law from taking effect.

The 2005 law requires abortion providers to tell patients that the procedure will “terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being,” the New York Times reports.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America claims the law violates the First Amendment.

Last October, a three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld [PDF] the injunction. A decision by the full appeals court is expected late this summer or early fall.