ABORTION NEWS
From 2003-OCTOBER TO DECEMBER
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Background information on many aspects of abortion is found in individual essays, e.g. public opinion, clinic protests, clinic violence, parental notification,
abortion methods, and post abortion
syndrome. Information about the
use of stem cells is elsewhere.
News items:
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2003-OCT-1: NJ: Bill to issue birth certificates to stillborn
fetuses: A bill is stalled in the New Jersey Assembly that would
authorize the issuance of birth certificates to late-term fetuses who
are stillborn. Kathy Evans gave birth to a stillborn fetus at 39 weeks
gestation. She was issued a death certificate. She asked: "When
you're issued only a death certificate, the first question that comes
into your mind is, 'How can one die if one has not been born?' That
little tangible thing that you have that represents that child existed
in your life....is something you want to hold on to for the rest of your
life." 1 |
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2003-OCT-4: DC: Pro-choice rally: People for the American Way
Foundation, NARAL, Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood, National
Organization for Women and Feminist Majority Foundation held a rally
before the Supreme Court . It was the first demonstration leading to the
March for Freedom of Choice which will be held on 2004-APR-25.
After the rally, a Campus Organizing Training was held. 2 |
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2003-OCT-10: MO: Judge blocks waiting period bill: Governor
Bob Holden (D-MO) vetoed an abortion bill that would have required women
to wait for at least 24 hours after receiving counseling about "the
indicators and contra-indicators and risk factors, including any
physical, psychological or situational factors" before being able to
have an abortion. The legislature was able to override the veto on
2003-SEP-11. The law was to take effect 30 days later, on OCT-11. It
carried a penalty of $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail. However,
senior U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright issued a temporary
restraining order which blocked implementation of the law, He said that Planned Parenthood's
claims had validity. They asserted that the law fails to give abortion
providers a precise description of prohibited conduct. Also it
encourages arbitrary enforcement of the law in violation of the
constitutional protection of due process. Judge Wright wrote: "If
allowed to go into effect, the act presents plaintiffs with a choice:
Continue to provide abortions under peril of criminal sanctions, or stop
providing abortions. Each option entails irreparable injury to providers
and/or their patients." He has scheduled a hearing for 2003-JAN-27
to discuss whether a permanent injunction should be granted.
Americans United for Life reports that 21 states currently have an "informed
consent" law in place that requires such a waiting period. Five
additional states have laws under litigation or enjoined by the courts.
3 |
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2003-OCT-10: MI: Governor vetoes D&X bill: Governor Jennifer
Granholm (D-MI) vetoed a bill that would ban certain late-term abortion
procedures. Opponents of the bill say that the bill was worded so
broadly that it could restrict all abortions. The bill was opposed by
two professional medical associations. The bill is clearly
unconstitutional because it made no exception to protect the woman from
serious health complications. It would have defined birth as occurring
when any part of a fetus emerges from a woman's body. The governor
vetoed the bill because: "federal courts repeatedly have declared
unconstitutional efforts to end partial birth abortion." In 1996 and
1999, previous similar bills were declared unconstitutional because of a
lack of a health exception clause. 4 |
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2003-OCT-13: AK: Superior Court rejects consent law: Judge Sen
Tan of the Anchorage Superior Court struck down as unconstitutional a
state law that required minors to obtain consent for an abortion from a
parent or judge. The state is expected to appeal the ruling to the
Alaska Supreme Court. The law was passed in 1997 and overturned by Judge
Tan in 1998 on the grounds that all Alaskans have an equal right to make
personal decisions. In 2003, the Supreme Court ordered Tan to
reconsider, and to hear testimony on whether the state has a compelling
interest in requiring minors to get consent. He concluded that the state
did have compelling interests, but decided that the law doesn't
accomplish these goals in the least restrictive way. Lt. Gov. Loren
Leman, (R-AK) said the ruling "is way out of step with mainstream
judicial reasoning....This is yet another example of judicial activism,
of judges exceeding their constitutional authority and acting as writers
of the law, rather than interpreters of it."
Anna Franks, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Alaska,
said: "In a perfect world, all minors would have parents who they
could talk to about these matters. Sadly, we don't live in a perfect
world and so we challenged the law to protect the few minors who cannot
seek parental consent for fear of physical or mental retribution. We
adamantly support parental involvement. Our protocols require staff to
encourage minors to involve their parents in their reproductive health
decisions." 5 |
This essay continues below.
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2003-OCT-30: Britain: Pro-life groups
fighting abortions on genetically defective fetuses: At the present
time, essentially all U.S. and UK expectant parents who learn that their fetus is
severely malformed elect to have an abortion. Pro-life groups in
Britain are hoping to ban abortions in such cases involving severe fetal
abnormality. Their rationale is that the European Union's
Charter of Fundamental Rights outlaws "eugenic practices, in
particular those aiming at the selection of persons." The Charter
will apply in Britain when the EU's constitution comes into force. As
expected, opinions differed over the likelihood of a lawsuit being
successful:
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Professor Jack Scarisbrick, of the pro-life group "Life,"
said: "If you have a law which says special needs children
can be killed, you are clearly practicing eugenics. It is weeding out
substandard human beings." |
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Josephine Quintavalle of the Pro Life Alliance said: "It
is very early days, but we have asked for a legal opinion on it.
We are looking at whether the charter will give that sort of path
of challenge. From what we have been told, the clause in the charter
is unalterable." |
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A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "The article they are
referring to will prohibit eugenics. But in the explanatory guide
which follows the article and which is supposed to be taken into
account by the European judges it says that this refers to selection
programs. This includes campaigns for sterilization, forced
pregnancies, compulsory ethnic marriage and all acts deemed to be
international crimes in the statute of the international criminal
court The idea is not to restrict the individual or the individual's
choice but rather to protect the individual." |
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Professor Piet Eeckhout, director of the Centre of European Law
at King's College London said: "There is quite a lot of
misunderstanding about this charter. It is primarily a charter that
binds EU institutions and member states at a national level. It
applies to EU laws. As there is no EU law on abortion the charter
would not apply in this case. |
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Ann Furedi of the pro-choice British Pregnancy Advisory Service
said: "Abortion is permitted
on the grounds of fetal abnormality in Britain. But that is not to say
it represents any form of eugenics. Eugenics is about trying eliminate
certain types of people or characteristics from the population. It's a
social movement. When women take the decision to end a pregnancy
affected by Down's syndrome or spina bifida they are making a personal
or individual choice. It would be ridiculous for anyone to suggest
woman making that decision is doing so with any eugenic intent."
6 |
| |
2003-NOV-5: President Bush signs D&X bill into law: The law which
prohibits some D&X abortion procedures -- frequently called "Partial
Birth Abortions" --- was signed into law on the afternoon of 2003-NOV-5.
Three federal court temporary injunctions were obtained which prevent
the law from being enforced. More details. | |
2003-DEC-21: WA: Official status denied to pro-life university
group: Gonzaga University is a 116-year-old Jesuit school in
Spokane, WA; it is one of the Northwest's leading Catholic institutions.
Two second year law students at Gonzaga, Horne and Katie Hauck, founded
a Pro-Life Law Caucus club to promote an anti-abortion agenda and
assist a local crisis-pregnancy center. The group's bylaws require that
all club officers -- the president, vice president, secretary and
treasurer -- must be Christians. Thus, a Conservative or Orthodox Jew
who was pro-life would be permitted to join as a POM (Plain Ordinary
Member) but could not run for office. They then applied to Gonzaga's
Student Bar Association (SBA) to be recognized as a
university-sponsored group. This would give them access to money from
student fees and advertisement on the university's Web page and student
handbook. They were refused because they discriminate against
non-Christians in their leadership positions. The precise meaning
that the group assigns to the term "Christian" is unknown. Many conservative Christians
do not consider mainline and liberal Christians to be part of their
religion. SBA President Albert Guadagno said that the issue is not the
group's stance on abortion; it's about discrimination. Leadership
positions, he said, should be open to all students. University
administration spokesperson, Peter Tormey, said that: "Any club
seeking funds must not discriminate. This club has that discriminatory
clause." Co-founder Horne Hauck said: "It's surprising that a
religious school would not [recognize] a Christian group." Greg
Lukianoff, spokesman for the Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education (FIRE), said: "We live in a strange age, indeed, when a
Catholic, Jesuit university would deny a Christian pro-life group
recognition because its religious nature is considered discriminatory."
7 | |
2003-DEC-29: NH: Judge declares
parental notification law unconstitutional: A new law was to take
effect at year end. It would have required a woman under the age of 18 to notify at
least one parent or guardian at least 48 hours before having an abortion. U.S.
District Judge Joseph DiClerico ruled that a new law is unconstitutional
because it does not have an exception to protect the health of the
minor. He wrote: "The attorney general has not explained how
the judicial bypass provision would address the need for an immediate
abortion to protect the health of the mother, and the provision on its
face is insufficient to meet such a need." Similar laws have been
declared unconstitutional iby the Florida Supreme Court and by a federal
appeals court in Colorado.
Martin Honigberg, a lawyer for Planned Parenthood of Northern New
England, said: "We won."
Governor Craig Benson, (R-NH) said that he was disappointed and would
promote passage of another notification law. He said: "I believe it
is the responsibility of parents, not the government, to raise their
children." 8 He
appears to misunderstand the nature of the bill. Without the law in
place, the government is not involved in a young woman's decision to
have an abortion. Only herself, her physician, and perhaps her spiritual
counselor are. |
References:
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Terry Phillips, "N.J. Mulls Stillborn Birth Certificates,"
Family News in Focus, 2003-OCT-1, at:
http://www.family.org/
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"Rally at the Supreme Court on Oct. 4 to Build Steam for the March
for Freedom of Choice," News release from the People for the American
Way, 2003-OCT-3.
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"Judge to block 24-hour wait on abortions," SE Missourian,
2003-OCT-13, at:
http://www.semissourian.com/
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Amy Bailey, "Michigan Governor Vetoes Abortion Bill,"
NewsDay.com, at:
http://www.newsday.com/
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"Alaska's abortion consent law rejected: Superior Court judge's
ruling draws criticism from lieutenant governor," Associated Press,
2003-OCT-16, at:
http://www.juneauempire.com/
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"Abortion laws 'to be challenged'; Thousands of women could be
banned from having an abortion under plans being drawn up by anti-abortion
groups," BBC News, 2003-OCT-30, at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
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Tan Vinh, "Gonzaga denies official status to abortion foes,"
Seattle Times, WA, 2003-DEC-21, at:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
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"N.H. Judge Nixes Abortion Notification," Associated Press,
2003-DEC-29, ABC News, at:
http://abcnews.go.com/
Copyright © 2003 & 2004 by the Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Created: 2003-OCT-1
Latest update: 2004-MAR-10
Author: B.A. Robinson
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