Baltimore Wants Full Fourth Circuit Look at Abortion ‘Gag’ Rule

The full Fourth Circuit must hear an appeal from a ruling upholding Baltimore’s challenge to a federal rule that prohibits family planning service providers that receive federal money from referring clients for abortion, the city told the court Friday.

Whether the Health and Human Services Department appropriately adopted the rule interpreting Title X’s family planning grant program is an issue of “exceptional national importance,” Baltimore said in a petition for initial en banc review.

The city is asking the court to make an exception to general appellate court procedure, in which parties may ask for en banc review after a ...