Richmond Medical Center for Women v. Herring: Prohibiting Partial Birth Abortion but Keeping Constitutional Rights Intact

Kathleen Morris

In Richmond Medical Center for Women v. Herring (Richmond Medical Center V), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that Virginia's ban on partial birth abortion did not impose an undue burden on a woman's right to obtain an abortion and was thus constitutional. The Virginia Partial Birth Infanticide Act specifically prohibits only the intact dilation and evacuation procedure. It further includes intent requirements and a life exception, which allow a physician to avoid liability in rare cases where an intended standard dilation and evacuation procedure inadvertently results in an intact partial delivery of the fetus. The facial challenge of the Virginia Act was based on a speculative set of circumstances, insufficient to render the statute invalid. Accordingly, the Fourth Circuit properly upheld the Virginia Act.