St. Louis, MO - In the first ruling of an appellate court on the merits of "partial-birth abortion" laws, today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed lower court decisions finding the Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska "partial-birth abortion" bans unconstitutional. In three separate unanimous decisions, the judges found that the bans unduly burden women seeking abortions because they would prohibit some of the safest and most common procedures used today.

Today's decisions are likely to have wide reverberations, as the Eighth Circuit is the first appellate level court to review the legal merits of "partial-birth abortion" bans that are identical to the legislation currently pending in Congress. The language of the Iowa and Nebraska laws mirror the federal legislation. The Eighth Circuit decisions can be appealed only to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has yet to consider the constitutionality of "partial-birth abortion" bans.

"The court's ruling confirms that the entire campaign to ban 'partial-birth abortion' - a campaign that has consumed Congress and the federal courts for over three years - is nothing but a fraud designed to rob American women of their right to abortion. This is a victory, not only for women in Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, but for all American women and for the Constitution," said Janet Benshoof, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has brought 14 challenges against such bans, including the three cases decided today.

The decision from the St. Louis, Missouri-based court focuses attention again on Missouri, where a contentious dispute over "partial-birth abortion" became national news. Last week, the state legislature overrode the governor's veto of Missouri's "partial-birth abortion" ban, despite the preponderance of court decisions finding such laws unconstitutional. A federal court blocked the Missouri statute until a decision in the case is reached following a March, 2000 trial. Today's decisions confirm the unconstitutionality of that law.

Although proponents of these criminal laws argue that they would affect only a particular abortion procedure performed late in pregnancy, judges across the nation have determined that the statutes constitute far-reaching bans on abortion throughout pregnancy. "Partial-birth abortion" laws have been blocked or severely limited in 20 states.