Miscellany: News on Abortion Rights, Discrimination, Parenting

Law.com report: "3rd Circuit: Woman Cannot Be Fired for Having Abortion." The plaintiff was an office manager for a company that insured used cars. In the second trimester, she learned of severe deformities in her pregnancy and had an abortion. Her employer claimed her firing was because she mishandled the scheduling and use of leave time for the procedure and after, but plaintiff sought to prove it was really because of the procedure itself. The Sixth Circuit held in 1996 that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act protects employees' right to terminate their pregnancies, and the EEOC endorses this view, but other circuits had not addressed it. The Third Circuit now agrees that the term "related medical conditions" includes abortion. Opinion here (PDF)

The AP reports : "A federal appeals court says Virginia's law banning a type of late-term abortion is still unconstitutional, even though a similar federal ban has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The 2-1 decision Tuesday by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the same court's 2005 ruling striking down the law. The Supreme Court had ordered the appeals court to take another look at the law after the ruling on the federal ban." Opinion here (PDF).

The Baltimore Sun reports: "Court denies visitation to gay ex-partner; Md. ruling has broad impact for nontraditional families": "In a decision with broad ramifications for nontraditional families, Maryland's highest court ruled Monday in favor of an adoptive mother who is seeking to deny her former partner visitation rights to a child that both had cared for during their relationship." You can read the decision at this link (PDF), and the Sexual Orientation and the Law Blog discusses the decision here.

Also at Law.com: Circuit Courts Address Discrimination Based on Interracial Association - I've discussed this topic recently, and this article gives a cogent discussion, including the parallel to discrimination based on same-sex relationships.

From Feministing (a couple weeks late!): UK won't lower abortion limit from 24 weeks - Conservatives in Parliament had advocated restricting abortions after 20 or 22 weeks instead of the current 24 weeks. Both measures failed, by 332-190 and 304-233 respectively. Hat tip to Reproductive Rights Profs Blog.