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Supreme Court Upholds National Partial-Birth Abortion Ban 4/18/2007 Justice was served in this decision. On April 18, 2007, the United States Supreme Court voted to uphold the national ban on partial-birth abortion signed into law by President Bush in 2003. The Court decided the ban does not violate a woman's constitutional right to abortion.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy in the 5-4 decision.
“This is a momentous day,” said Mrs. Beverly LaHaye, Founder and Chairman of Concerned Women for America (CWA). "CWA has worked steadfastly toward this victory on behalf of innocent human life for many years. With this decision, the Supreme Court has restored a tiny portion of the common good it knocked down in its 1973 decision, which classified an entire set of people – the unborn – as a sub-human species."
After President Bush signed the ban into law in 2003, judges in California, Nebraska and New York issued temporary restraining orders to block its enforcement. All three federal courts of appeal overturned the ban, stating that they were bound by the Supreme Court's previous 2000 decision in Stenberg v. Carhart, which outlawed a Nebraska ban on the procedure as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court took up the case on February 21, 2006.
Supporters of the ban feared that the Court's previous decision in Stenberg v. Carhart would present an obstacle to its upholding the 2003 law criminalizing the procedure. Opponents of the ban had argued that the Court must respect its Stenberg v. Carhart decision under stare decisis, a judicial doctrine that gives deference to prior court decisions on similar issues.
In August 2006, Concerned Women for America joined an amicus brief encouraging the Court to overturn its 2000 ruling in Stenberg v. Carhart, pointing out that stare decisis does not apply in this case. The brief, filed by the Christian Legal Society, was also joined by the National Association of Evangelicals, Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund and Alliance Defense Fund.
Justice Samuel Alito's replacement of former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has proven to be essential to the Court's upholding the ban on partial-birth abortion, an abhorrent procedure which the majority of Americans think should be outlawed. Justice was served in this decision, which rightfully emboldens those who seek to protect human life at all its stages.
For a description of the partial-birth abortion procedure, click here. |
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