BERGEN COUNTY RIGHT TO LIFE

Partial-birth Abortion Ban Upheld!

In April, the Supreme Court reversed its 2000 decision, and upheld a 2003 Congressional ban on the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure. Referring to evidence from medical experts, the Court found a “moral, medical, and ethical consensus exists that the practice of performing a partial-birth abortion… is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary and should be prohibited.” Dr. Anthony Levatino, an ob/gyn in New Mexico who formerly did abortions in New York, says a partial-birth abortion is a 3-day long process and is not a medical procedure a doctor would need to use to protect a woman`s health. "The way you end a pregnancy to save a woman`s life is to deliver the (baby)," Levatino said.

According to the Court: “The State has an interest in ensuring so grave a choice is well informed. It is self-evident that a mother who comes to regret her choice to abort must struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound when she learns, only after the event, what she once did not know: that she allowed a doctor to pierce the skull and vacuum the fast developing brain of her unborn child....”

Pro-life advocates rejoiced at news of the 5-4 decision. We hope that we are moving closer to ending all abortions. The ruling is the first major abortion case in which new Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito have ruled, perhaps giving a clue as to their views on Roe itself. Additionally, the majority opinion was written by Justice Kennedy, who has long been considered a swing vote on abortion-related cases. Let us pray that he will eventually come to see the complete injustice of all abortion, no matter the procedure.