Monday, June 29, 2020

Reaction to SCOTUS striking Louisiana abortion law


From the Thomas More Society:

The United States Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion, in what attorneys at the Thomas More Society are labeling “a disappointing blow to states’ rights to protect the health and wellbeing of their citizens.” Upholding a challenge by two abortionists, the high court’s decision in June Medical v. Gee, denies Louisiana the right to protect women by requiring those who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital in case there are serious medical complications that put the woman at risk.

Tom Brejcha, Thomas More Society President and Chief Counsel, responded to the court’s verdict. “This judgement also effectively allowed those who sell abortion services to sue on behalf of their potential customers, to overturn state regulations put in place to protect those very same customers.”

The not-for-profit public interest law firm has had a vested interest in the outcome of this case, having filed two briefs in support of Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Rebekah Gee. The first, authored by former United States Solicitor General Kenneth Starr acting as Special Counsel to the Thomas More Society, attacked the standing of the abortionists to sue on behalf of their clients, ones that they claimed were facing an “undue burden” by Louisiana’s limits on abortion access.

The Thomas More Society also submitted a brief to the high court on behalf of Illinois Right to Life, challenging June Medical’s lawsuit with the obsolescence of Roe v. Wade, in light of 47 years of scientific progress in the areas of viability, fertility, and basic biology.

Brejcha explained what comes next for the Thomas More Society in the abortion battle: “We had hoped for a decision affirming the rights of a state to protect the health and safety of those within its borders. The onus of doing so will now rest upon the citizens themselves. We will redouble efforts to secure and defend the rights of individuals and groups to speak out against abortion – the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, assembly and expressive association, and due process. Americans who believe in the sanctity of human life have the right to rally against abortion, to offer abortion-bound women information about life-affirming alternatives, and to pray for the end of abortion, on public right of ways surrounding and leading to abortion vendors. The playing field may have shifted but our commitment has not wavered.”


From The Catholic Association:

"Today the Supreme Court ruled in favor of special treatment for unscrupulous abortion doctors who exploit women at a vulnerable time.   The Louisiana law nullified by the Court today was passed by Rep. Katrina Jackson, a Democrat and an African-American woman who found evidence that low-income women in her state were being harmed by incompetent abortionists operating in unsanitary clinics.  Rep. Jackson’s law required abortion doctors to have the same admitting privileges as doctors at other out-patient surgical clinics.   There is abundant evidence of abortion industry malpractice and a long line of notorious abortionists like Dr.Kermit Gosnell, Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, Dr. Steven Chase BringhamDr. Timothy Liveright,  Dr. James Pendergraft, and many more.  It is utterly incomprehensible that Chief Justice Roberts, who just four years ago supported a similar Texas law in the Hellerstedt case, would perform a contorted back-flip to shield abortionists from a law requiring basic health and safety standards." Maureen Ferguson is a Senior Fellow for The Catholic Association.

"Women’s safety once again loses at court in this morning’s decision regarding a Louisiana law requiring admitting privileges for abortion providers. It is a sad reflection of our society’s disregard for the well-being of women that a common-sense regulation meant to protect them from incompetent, dangerous practitioners should give way to political and ideological interests. If the liberal justices led by Chief Justice Roberts were doctors, and not simply jurists-playing-doctor and legislating from the bench, they would know surgical abortion clinics ought to be held to the same safety standards as any other surgical facility." Grazie Pozo Christie, MD is Policy Advisor for The Catholic Association.



No comments:

Post a Comment