Are Different Abortion Methods Morally Distinguishable? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Hears Richmond Med. Center v. Herring

Sherry Colb has this commentary on Findlaw. She writes:

. . . Yesterday, the relatively conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit confronted just such a question when it sat en banc (as a full court) to hear argument in Richmond Medical Ctr. v. Herring. The case presents the question whether the Virginia “Partial Birth Infanticide Act” (PBIA) – which prohibits intact dilation and evacuation abortion (a.k.a. “D & X”) – violates a woman’s federal constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.

After a brief exposition of the case itself, this column takes up the broader question of whether and why different methods of abortion might be considered morally distinct from one another . . .