NATION IN BRIEF : PENNSYLVANIA : Parts of Abortion Law Overturned

Poor women seeking taxpayer-funded abortions don’t have to produce a police report to prove they were victims of rape or incest, a federal judge ruled in Philadelphia. In overturning part of the state’s restrictive abortion law, the judge also said the state could not require that two doctors certify an abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life before it can be paid for with federal funds. Those sections of the Pennsylvania law were improper because they are more restrictive than the federal Hyde Amendment, U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam said. The Hyde Amendment, which banned the use of federal money for abortions except to save a woman’s life, was amended by Congress last October to include cases of rape and incest.