Federal Court Upholds Ohio's Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
by Fred Jackson and Jenni Parker
December 18, 2003
(AgapePress) - The American Family Association Center for Law & Policy is praising yesterday's federal appeals court decision upholding Ohio's ban against partial-birth abortion.A lower-court ruling had declared the Ohio law forbidding the controversial abortion procedure unconstitutional. But on December 17, a three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that in a 2-1 decision. According to the majority opinion, "Ohio's new statute does not violate the Constitution in any respect."
| | 
Steve Crampton |
The Law Center's chief counsel, Stephen Crampton, applauds the decision. "It is high time the federal courts afforded state legislatures the deference they are due in matters such as this, where [the lawmakers] are trying to protect innocent unborn children against one of the most gruesome and painful deaths imaginable," he says.Senior litigation counsel Michael DePrimo agrees. He hopes the Sixth Circuit decision will serve as a model for other courts considering similar laws, and he says the case is especially important in light of the challenges being mounted against the new federal partial-birth abortion law. Not long ago President George W. Bush signed into law a federal ban against the procedure, but a court injunction stopped it from going into effect.
The plaintiff in the Ohio case, Dr. Martin Haskell, was one of the pioneers of the partial-birth abortion method. Although the Sixth Circuit ruling went against him, Haskell now has the option to appeal to the full circuit or even to the U.S. Supreme Court. According to a report from LifeNews.com, an attorney representing Haskell says he does plan to appeal and will ask the full circuit court to render a decision in the matter.
Denise Mackura, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, says her group is pleased that two of the three federal judges of the Sixth Circuit found Ohio's ban to be constitutional. But she says the real question remaining is whether the Supreme Court will allow "any meaningful limitation" on the brutal procedure under Roe v. Wade.
Partial-birth abortion involves almost complete delivery of a fully formed unborn child. After the late-term infant is partially delivered, with only the head remaining in the womb, an abortionist punctures the baby's skull and suctions out brain and other tissues so that the head collapses, allowing the dead child to be easily removed.
"This method of abortion is more infanticide than abortion," Mackura says. Recent polls report that 70% of Americans oppose the partial-birth abortion procedure.
