Cross post/ ACLU and Natl Abortion Fed. criticize SCOTUS...

[bliss_eternal]

I'm sorry for the cross post. I expect this to sink like a stone in GD. lol. Thought at least here, some who are interested will see it.

ACLU and National Abortion Federation Criticize Decision by U.S Supreme Court Upholding Federal Abortion Ban

Decision Allows Politicians to Interfere with Personal Medical Decisions

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Abortion Federation (NAF) today sharply criticized a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a federal law banning certain abortions. It is the first abortion decision from the Supreme Court since Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired. Both organizations said that the Court's decision will endanger women's health.

"Today's decision has placed politics above protecting women's health," said Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of NAF. "This ruling is a setback for all Americans who believe politicians should not legislate medical decision-making. The decision disregards the opinion of leading doctors and medical organizations that oppose the ban because it is harmful to women's health."

The Court ruled today on two challenges to the federal abortion ban, called by its sponsors the "Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act." The two cases are Gonzales v. Carhart, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Dr. LeRoy Carhart and three other physicians, and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, brought by Planned Parenthood Federation of America on behalf of its affiliates throughout the country.

A third challenge to the ban, National Abortion Federation v. Gonzales, was brought by NAF and seven individual physicians, represented by the ACLU, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, the ACLU of Illinois, and the New York Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit put that case on hold until the Supreme Court issued a decision in the other two cases. Today's Supreme Court decision requires that the ban be upheld in this case as well.


taken from:

http://www.prochoice.org/news/releases/20070418.html

[sandnsea]

1. "fetal dismemberment"

Do you think it would help to let people know what the alternative is - or would they just try to ban all abortions after the first trimester? I don't think most people know what partial-birth replaced.

"The procedure, known as intact dilation and extraction, is generally performed in the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy, often after a diagnosis of fetal abnormality. Rather than the more common practice of dismembering the fetus in the womb, the doctor partly removes the intact fetus before aborting it, usually by puncturing its skull."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/19/SCOTUS.TMP