Abortions

North Dakota lawmakers on Friday approved a state referendum for this fall on a constitutional amendment that, if passed, would effectively block abortion by holding that life begins at conception. In a 57-35 vote, the House followed the Senate's action and approved the referendum that now goes before the voters on the November ballot. Groups backing abortion rights said they will fight the referendum and, if needed, in the courts as well. “It is too intrusive and has too many unintended consequences,” Tammi Kromenaker of the Red River Women's Clinic, the state's sole facility offering abortions, said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple should not sign any of the legislature's half-dozen bills that seek to subvert a well-established constitutional right to abortion. Late last week, the North Dakota legislature passed a bill that would ban a woman from having an abortion as soon as the heartbeat of the fetus is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. If Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signs it into law, North Dakota will have the ignominious distinction of being the most restrictive state in the country on abortion.

Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel got a potentially powerful boost Friday by winning the endorsement of EMILY's List, which could help her tap into a deep network of female donors across the country. Under city campaign finance rules, City Controller Greuel and her rival City Councilman Eric Garcetti were required to spend all their money from the March 5 primary before entering the runoff. They now have 10 weeks to solicit the millions of dollars they will need to finance an expensive television campaign to reach city voters.

The approval by Arkansas' Legislature on Wednesday of the nation's most restrictive abortion law raises a lot of questions. No, I don't mean the usual questions about when life begins or whether the government has a right to intrude in such an intensely personal decision; I don't presume to be able to answer those, nor could anybody do so in a way that would satisfy true believers on the other side. Mine are reserved for the state legislators: Have you guys really thought this thing through?

SEATTLE - A federal judge has struck down an Idaho law prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks, ruling that the so-called fetal pain law violates U.S. Supreme Court prohibitions against unduly impeding a woman's ability to seek an abortion before her fetus is able to live outside the womb. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise declared the 2011 law -- similar to limits adopted in at least seven other states -- to be unconstitutional in a ruling that took the Idaho Legislature to task for acting against the advice of its own attorney general.

Arkansas legislators approved the nation's most restrictive abortion law on Wednesday after overriding a veto by the state's Democratic governor, who said the legislation was "blatantly unconstitutional. " Senate Bill 134, known as the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act , bans abortions involving fetuses 12 weeks or older that have heartbeats, excluding medical emergencies, and mandates an ultrasound for expecting mothers before they attempt an abortion. The state's House of Representatives followed the Senate in voting to override Gov. Mike Beebe's veto.

Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today that they have picked up the documentary “After Tiller” for distribution in North America. Directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, the film is an intimate, close look at the four doctors in the United States who perform third-trimester abortions in the wake of the 2009 assassination of practitioner Dr. George Tiller. Oscilloscope announced plans for a nationwide release followed by VOD, digital and home video platforms. The film recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and will soon screen at the doc-oriented True/False Film Festival.  In a statement, the filmmakers said, “We made 'After Tiller' to shed more light, rather than more heat, on this issue, and know that Oscilloscope's smart, sensitive approach will get it out to the widest audience possible.” Oscilloscope announced earlier this week that it had acquired the drama “A Teacher,” which also premiered at Sundance.

An Albuquerque doctor, accused by an antiabortion group of gross negligence for her handling of a late-term abortion, was exonerated by New Mexico officials. The New Mexico Medical Board cleared Dr. Shelley Sella of any impropriety in how she handled a case involving a New York woman whose uterus was ruptured during a late-term abortion and she was taken to a hospital. Sella, a former colleague of slain Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller, is one of only a few physicians in the country who still openly perform abortions in the third trimester.

PARK CITY, Utah - The Sundance Film Festival has a relaxed, down-to-earth vibe, but the atmosphere at the premiere screening of the documentary "After Tiller" was noticeably tense. For starters, police and armed sheriffs in green jumpsuits made a show of force outside the Temple Theater. Attendees had to have their bags searched and were checked by guards with hand-held metal detectors. After the movie screened, two police officers stood at the front of the auditorium as the directors of the abortion documentary - and the four doctors featured in the film - answered questions from the audience.