
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990                   TAG: 9005300149
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HIGH COURT TO INVESTIGATE ABORTION COUNSELING BAN

The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether a ban on government-financed family planning clinics counseling patients about abortion violates free-speech and abortion rights.

At stake is the future scope of a federal program with a $200 million annual budget. The program funds more than 4,000 clinics serving about 5 million low-income women nationwide.

A federal appeals court in New York upheld the counseling ban, but other federal courts ruled it is unconstitutional. The high court's decision, expected sometime in 1991, should resolve the conflicting rulings.

In other action Tuesday, the court:

Said it will decide whether states may impose mandatory life sentences without parole for people convicted of possessing large amounts of drugs.

The court must determine whether such a Michigan law amounts to unconstitutionally "cruel and unusual punishment."

Gave criminal defendants new "double jeopardy" protection against multiple prosecutions as it voted 5-4 to bar homicide charges against a drunken driver in New York.

Ruled, 7-2, in a Pennsylvania case that convicted criminals may avoid making restitution to their victims by declaring bankruptcy.

Ruled, 7-2, in a case from Arizona that Indian tribes may not prosecute any member of another tribe for crimes committed on their reservations.

Let stand a ruling in an Illinois case that shields public officials from being sued in federal court for placing children in foster homes where they are sexually abused.

Rejected an appeal by two Ku Klux Klan groups and four men ordered to pay more than $800,000 for organizing a demonstration that turned into a violent attack on civil rights marchers in Georgia three years ago.

The newest abortion controversy tackled by the court involves a family planning program enacted by Congress. It pays for creating and operating family planning clinics.

The law forbids clinics to use the federal money to perform abortions, but initial regulations let the clinic staffs tell women about the abortion option.

by CNB