[JURIST] A panel of the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] Friday struck down [PDF opinion] a Virginia law prohibiting a controversial late-term partial-birth abortion procedure, finding it unconstitutional because it lacks an exception to protect a woman's health. The 2-1 decision upheld a 2003 ruling finding the law "unconstitutional on its face." In a pointed dissent Judge Paul V. Niemeyer declared that the majority's decision, "in essence, constitutionalizes infanticide of the most gruesome nature." A spokesperson for the Center for Reproductive Rights [advocacy website] in New York hailed the decision [press release] as correctly following Supreme Court precedent and placing high value on the health of women. The Washington Post has more.