Federal appeals court revives Va. late-term abortion ban

A sharply divided federal appeals court in Richmond has upheld Virginia's ban on a type of late-term abortion.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 6-5 ruling Wednesday that the 2003 law is constitutional. The decision reverses a 2-1 panel ruling striking down the law, which bans a procedure in which the fetus is partially delivered and then destroyed.

Virginia's law is similar to a federal statute banning a procedure that abortion opponents call "partial-birth abortion."

-- The Associated Press