Supreme Court Abortion Decision Criticized in Key Medical Journal

One of the world's most prominent peer-reviewed medical journals is weighing in on last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion.

In a "perspective" piece in the online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine a University of Wisconsin bioethcist writes that the decision "poses a threat to doctors" who perform partial birth abortions especially ones that are needed to save the life of a pregnant woman.

Dr. Alta Charo argues that "the mere prospect of being investigated by a possibly hostile prosecutor may well have a chilling effect on" doctors' decision making.

And in a journal editorial Dr. Jeffrey Drazen writes that the decision "has sanctioned the intrusion of legislation into the day-to-day practice of medicine."

He concludes by saying "the judicial branch has regrettably joined the legislative branch in practicing medicine without a license."