WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on second trimester abortions appears set to hinge on Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has changed his opinions in the past.
Various legal experts told The Washington Post that Kennedy seems to be the swing vote between liberal and conservative justices on the issue, which addresses killing a fetus in the womb before extracting it. The procedure is also known as "partial birth" abortions.
Abortion rights opponents say the operation is tantamount to infanticide, while rights advocates claim the procedure is necessary in a relatively few cases when a fetus has a fatal birth defect such as when the brain has not fully formed.
As an example of Kennedy's history of reversing earlier judgments, the Post cited how the 70-year-old wrote the majority opinion in a 5-4 ruling last year than banned the death penalty for juvenile offenders, whereas he voted to uphold in 1989.
"This will appeal to Justice Kennedy's sense of wanting to look at the medical evidence," Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the Post.
