Pro-Lifers Rejoice; High Court Will Review Partial-Birth Abortion Challenge
by Jody Brown
February 22, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Pro-life and family advocates are expressing their joy over Tuesday's announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court that it will review a lower-court ruling on President Bush's Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (PABA). The Act, passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by the president in 2003, has been stymied by legal challenges from abortion advocates. Federal courts in three different states -- New York, Nebraska, and California -- had challenged PABA, a law that, if enacted, would have banned the gruesome practice of partially delivering a baby before killing it. The first of those three decisions came in July 2005 when the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (in Gonzales v. Carhart) that PABA conflicted with an earlier Supreme Court ruling in 2000 (Stenberg v. Carhart). Late last month, both the Ninth and Second Courts of Appeals handed down similar rulings.
Now the high court has stated it will review the Eighth Circuit's decision -- and pro-lifers are delighted at the possibility that the two recent conservative additions to the court, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito, could mean the Supreme Court overturning its own 2000 decision in Stenberg v. Carhart. The deciding vote in that 5-4 decision was Sandra Day O'Connor, who has since been replaced by Alito.
Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center says the high court's announcement to review the lower-court's decision in Gonzales v. Carhart "may be the beginning of a new dawn for the pro-life movement in America."
Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, sees the announcement as an indicator of potentially larger ramifications down the road. "Partial-birth abortion is a gruesome and barbaric procedure, which must be stopped," the attorney says, adding that "this decision to hear the Gonzales appeal could be the great first step" to ban all abortions in the U.S.
The senior trial attorney for the Center for Law & Policy, an arm of the American Family Association, is also hopeful that a high court led by Chief Justice John Roberts will uphold the right of Congress to enact legislation that outlaws what he describes as a "hideous" practice.
"This procedure [partial-birth abortion] constitutes nothing less than infanticide," says Brian Fahling. "We look forward to the new court's consideration of the case -- and fully expect a victory for the cause of the unborn."
Another Christian attorney, Mat Staver, echoes the sentiments of many pro-life advocates, who he says are "thrilled" with the Supreme Court's decision to jump back into the debate on partial-birth abortion. He says he sees the new court taking a new direction.
"I believe this court [the Supreme Court] will be more faithful to the rule of law," says the president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel. "No matter how far you stretch the Constitution, you cannot find a right to abortion lurking anywhere within its shadows." Abortion, adds Staver, is "an extreme makeover" of both the Constitution and the law.
Another 5-4 Decision Possible?
Don Stenberg was Nebraska's attorney general when he argued the 2000 partial-birth case that bears his name. Now a candidate for the U.S. Senate, Stenberg expects a victory for unborn children and those who defend them. "In my opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court will correct a grave injustice, and will overrule Stenberg v. Carhart in a 5-4 decision," he says.
Many believe that Justice Alito, the newest member of the high court, could determine which way the court decides. According to Associated Press, Tony Perkins (Family Research Council) and Jay Sekulow (American Center for Law and Justice) both say Alito could be the deciding vote now that he has replaced Sandra Day O'Connor. So does the president of the Christian Coalition of America.
"President Bush promised in both 2000 and 2004 that his Supreme Court nominees would be conservative, and he has delivered on that promise," says Roberta Combs. "We are confident that his second nominee [Alito] will vote -- unlike the justice he replaced, Sandra Day O'Connor -- to uphold the ban on partial-birth abortions and this terrible practice will finally be ended."
The high court will hear arguments on the case this fall, and a decision could possibly be issued before the 2006 elections in November.
