NARAL PRO-CHOICE MISSOURI REACTS TO SUPREME COURT DECISION UPHOLDING FEDERAL ABORTION BAN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 18, 2007 NARAL PRO-CHOICE MISSOURI REACTS TO SUPREME COURT DECISION UPHOLDING FEDERAL ABORTION BAN “It is disappointing but not unexpected that, with Justice Alito added to the Supreme Court, the Court would move to further restrict access to abortion. The law the Court upheld allows the government to prohibit abortions as early as 12 weeks into pregnancy,” Pamela Sumners, executive director, said. “It is disappointing that the Court has engaged in judicial activism by overruling its own precedents, including a case that went just the opposite way only five years ago. Five years ago, the Court held that a law was unconstitutional if it contained no exception for women’s health. Today, it has upheld a far-reaching ban that fails to protect women’s health, “ Sumners continued. NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri is deeply disturbed that the Court has turned its back on three decades of settled law. “Both Justices Roberts and Alito told us during their confirmation hearings that they respected settled law. Clearly, that respect is situational at best,” said Sumners. Missouri is one of 14 states that have a criminal ban on abortions. NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri warns that the anti-choice majorities in the General Assembly and Governor Matt Blunt may be emboldened to try to enforce Missouri’s ban or to write a ban that mirrors the one the Supreme Court just upheld, even as it today debates measures that could reduce the number of clinics providing abortions in Missouri to one. Sumners said the group would redouble its efforts to elect legislators and governors who respect a woman’s right to choose. “Elections matter. President Bush used his constitutional power to nominate judges who would upheld bans like this at the expense of American women’s health. We need to elect people who respect traditional American values of privacy and personal liberty,” Sumners. CONTACT: Pamela Sumners (312) 213-1725 (cell); (314) 531-8616 office ** Pamela Sumners is a constitutional lawyer who can answer legal questions about the implications of the decision -30- Please click here for NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri's legal analysis of this decision.
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