Supreme Court Upholds President Bush's Abortion Ban
Decision marks setback for women's health and privacy, allowing more political interference in personal, private medical decisions FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2007 St. Paul, Minn—Derek Burrows Reise, executive director of NARAL Pro-choice Minnesota, issued the following statement in response to today’s Supreme Court decision in the Federal Abortion Ban cases. "Today’s decision shows Bush’s appointees have moved the Court in a direction that could further undermine Roe v. Wade and protections for women’s health. The door is now open for politicians like George W. Bush to interfere even more in our personal, private medical decisions. We fully expect the decision to act as a green light to additional legislative attacks on safe, legal abortion, without any regard for women’s health. "Elections matter. An anti-choice Congress and an anti-choice president pushed this ban all the way to the Supreme Court. The same politicians behind this abortion ban also block stem-cell research and interfered in the Terri Schiavo case. Voters need to elect more policy makers who will stand up for our fundamental values of freedom and privacy. "The Court has disregarded the medical opinion of leading doctors who oppose the ban. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents 90 percent of the OB GYNs in this country, says the ban is harmful to women’s health and interferes with medical decision making. "This case is about more than abortion. This decision means the Court is willing to side with the Bush administration and uphold laws that interfere with personal decisions that should be left up to a woman and her family. Indeed, this is a setback for all Americans who believe politicians should not make private, personal medical decisions for the rest of us. "Today coincidentally marks NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota’s statewide pro-choice Lobby Day, where citizens was bringing pro-choice activists from across the state to lobby legislators to support contraceptive access and other pregnancy prevention initiatives. "As we look toward the 2008 election cycle, we must not forget that Senator Norm Coleman voted for Bush’s Federal Abortion Ban. Voters will know that he and other Washington politicians played a role in undermining the values of freedom and privacy and women’s health." Background
The Supreme Court struck down an almost identical state law as unconstitutional in 2000, and every court to hear a challenge to this first-ever federal ban on abortion declared it unconstitutional. Since the Court's decision in 2000, President Bush appointed Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court and abortion foes see these appointments as an opportunity to undermine the Roe v. Wade decision. NARAL Pro-Choice America and its affiliate network lobbied strongly against the law and submitted an amicus brief to the Court arguing that the only appropriate remedy for the ban's constitutional flaws was to bar its enforcement entirely. ###Contact: Melissa Reed, Political Director
651-602-7655
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