![Appeals court upholds Texas law banning common second-trimester abortion method](https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/08/19/e4db0841-2663-4e44-9186-7b55ddd053e1/thumbnail/1200x630/8656bd2b0ace6c73aa8ceb02cc91db57/gettyimages-543299184.jpg)
Appeals court upholds Texas law banning common second-trimester abortion method
CBSN
A Texas law outlawing an abortion method commonly used to end second-trimester pregnancies was upheld Wednesday by a federal appeals court in New Orleans. Abortion rights advocates argued that the law effectively outlaws what is often the safest method of abortion for women in the second trimester of pregnancy: a procedure medically known as dilation and evacuation.
The 2017 law in question has never been enforced. It seeks to prohibit the use of forceps to remove a fetus from the womb — what supporters of the law call a "dismemberment abortion" — without first using an injected drug or a suction procedure to ensure the fetus is dead. Abortion rights advocates opposed the law, arguing that fetuses cannot feel pain during the gestation period affected by the law, and that one alternative outlined by the state, the use of suction to remove a fetus, also results in dismemberment.![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214202746.jpg)
Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
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Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
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It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.