Order requiring US to pay for abortions is stayed

Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court Thursday stayed the order of a lower-court judge that would have required the federal government to begin paying for abortions for the poor as of Friday. Justice Marshall acted on a request by the government to delay the effect of a Jan. 15 ruling by US District Judge John Dooling in New York. That ruling struck down as unconstitutional recent legislation restricting the use of federal funds for abortions.

Judge Dooling's ruling would have required the federal government to provide funding for the states as of Friday to use for abortions under local medicaid programs for the poor.