PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Nathan Bupp
Phone: (716) 636-4869 x 218
E-mail: nbupp@centerforinquiry.net
CFI Calls for Repeal of Federal Ban on Abortion Procedure
April 30, 2007
Contact: Toni Van Pelt
Phone: (202) 546-2330
Cell: (727) 278-8446
E-mail:
tvanpelt@cfidc.org
Washington, D.C.--The Center for Inquiry urges the U.S. Congress to repeal the law restricting abortion that the Supreme Court upheld in its 5-4 decision in Gonzales v. Carhart . The federal law, misleadingly named the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, bans the abortion procedure known as intact dilation and extraction (intact D & E). Effectively, the Court has, for the first time since Roe v. Wade , deprived women of the right to a safe abortion procedure following their obstetrician’s professional advice.
In upholding the law, the Supreme Court promotes an outdated view of a woman’s rights based upon barely concealed religious prejudice. “Religious points of view must never be allowed to dictate public policy and limit fundamental freedoms. The health and lives of women should not be pawns in the culture wars of the U.S.,” said Paul Kurtz, chairman of the Center for Inquiry, which works to ensure that scientific evidence, not personal belief, is the basis for creating public policy. “Congress must repeal the law to restore both the full range of women’s rights and the ability of healthcare providers to freely give sound medical advice.”
The opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, assaults reason by arguing that some women may regret their decision to abort a fetus even as it finds “no reliable data to measure the phenomenon.” Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow, the court ruled, again without citing any supporting research or scientific findings.
In previous cases, the Supreme Court has recognized that women have a fundamental right to have an abortion and are constitutionally entitled to access to procedures that are medically necessary to preserve their health. The rationale the court provided to mask its reversal of position, namely that it is “medically uncertain” whether an intact D&E is necessary, does not withstand scrutiny.
The procedure is employed by physicians in late term abortions when, in a doctor’s medical opinion, it is required to preserve the health of the woman undergoing the abortion. The court’s opinion substitutes its unscientific legal ruling for an obstetrician’s expertise.
With this decision, the far right can be assured that its agenda to ban all abortions is gaining ground. The movement’s pressure to have conservative judges such as Samuel Alito and John Roberts appointed to the Supreme Court is now paying dividends in a decision that controls the rights of all women. Religious points of view must never be allowed to dictate public policy and limit fundamental freedoms. We call upon the Congress of the United States to repeal the law that the Supreme Court has just upheld.
