Operation Rescue Vows to Attend DC Hearing as Partial Birth Abortion Ban is Declared Unconstitutional for Third Time
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA — U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf today became the third Federal Judge to rule that the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress last year is “unconstitutional” because it does not provide a “health” exception. The case will be appealed and Operation Rescue vows to attend the eventual Supreme Court hearing.
Courts in San Francisco, California and Manhattan, New York issued similar rulings in the past few weeks.
The controversial “health” exception language was deliberately left out of the federal legislation because of concerns that “health” could be so broadly interpreted that it would, in effect, nullify the ban. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act does, however, provide an exception if the mother’s life is endangered by a pregnancy. However, testimony from medical experts indicated that the Partial —birth abortion procedure is never medically necessary to save a woman’s life or health.
A partial birth abortion is a controversial abortion method that is performed on pre-born babies in the later stages of pregnancy. The body of the baby is forcibly pulled out of the birth canal until only the head is left inside. The skull is then pierced and the cranial contents are then suctioned out, collapsing the head and allowing it to slip easily from the birth canal.
“It is unjust that three judges can thwart the will of the people, Congress, and the President and allow this immoral form of child-killing to continue. Because the ban on the gruesome abortion procedure enjoyed heavy popular and congressional support, these cases are destined to go to the Supreme Court,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Operation Rescue vows to be there to be there to proclaim the truth about this horrific child-killing procedure, just as we were at the Supreme Court for the Carhart v. Stenberg case in 2000. These unjust rulings will not persuade us to go quietly into the night, but instead strengthen our resolve to continue to raise our voices on behalf of the innocent babies and the women who suffer profoundly from this particularly heinous abortion method.”
