Definition of abortion key topic in federal trial

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - The very definition of abortion was front and center Thursday in a federal lawsuit over a state law regarding the procedure.

The last two days of testimony in the trial to stop a state law that requires medical professionals to give pregnant women the option of have aborting their babies, attorneys stressed that there is a distinct difference between the elective procedure to end a pregnancy and one made by a doctor when a pregnancy isn’t viable or to save a mother’s life.

“Where you have to go in and take the baby to save the life of the mother, they don’t see that as an abortion because there’s a different intent,” said Kevin Theriot, attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom. “The doctor isn’t intending to kill the child. the child dies in attempt to save the mother.”

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