WASHINGTON — Organizations concerned about two of the nation’s most controversial moral topics — abortion and homosexuality — have welcomed a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to take on cases dealing with a controversial late-term abortion procedure and gay leadership in the Boy Scouts of America.
The high court said Jan 14 it will hear oral arguments in the two cases. The cases will likely be heard in April and decisions are expected to be rendered by July, to Associated Press reported.
In the abortion case, justices will review a Nebraska law making it a crime for doctors to perform a surgical procedure known as dilation and extraction — what opponents call a “partial birth” abortion. In that procedure, a fetus is partially extracted, feet first, through the birth canal, and its skull is cut and drained.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously struck down the Nebraska law, saying it’s wording also would ban a more common procedure called dilation and evacuation. Btu other, almost identical, state laws were upheld by another federal appeals court.
In the Boy Scout case, the high court will decide whether the scouting organization can bar gays as troop leaders or members.
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