ACLU Applauds Decision Allowing Women Prisoners in Missouri to Access Abortion

Posted on July 18, 2006

The ACLU are celebrating and cheering a decision by a district court in Missouri that allows women prisoners to get transportation to an abortion clinic at the taxpayer’s expense.

The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded a decision by a district court in Missouri allowing women prisoners in the state to access timely, safe, and legal abortion care.

I just want to stop here for one second to note how it absolutely annoys and disturbs me that they are using the word “care” to describe the murder of an innocent unborn.

“Prison officials can no longer ignore the medical needs of women prisoners seeking abortions,” said Diana Kasdan, a staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “We applaud the court for recognizing that women do not give up their right to abortion care when they enter prison.”

Just take note of their terminology using words like “need” for an elective killing procedure, and once again the word “care.” It sickens me.

In 2005, prison officials went to extreme lengths to deny a woman prisoner access to abortion care. In early October the ACLU stepped in, asking a court to require prison officials to transport the prisoner for an abortion. After losing in lower courts, the state appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. At the ACLU’s urging, the Supreme Court refused to block the lower court’s decision requiring the state to transport the woman to a nearby health care facility for an abortion.

It went all the way to the Supreme Court, so it would be futile for me to put up any kind of legal debate on this. However, I don’t agree with any of the courts on moral reasons. I don’t think the taxpayers should have to pay for her transportation or the guards required in her transport. The elective proceedure should completely come from her pocket, as it was completely her decision to terminate the life of an innocent.

Following this decision, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri granted the ACLU’s request to make the case a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all incarcerated pregnant women seeking access to abortion care.

So now it isn’t an isolated case for the taxpayer to fund the baby killing of convicted criminals, it is now a protected right in Missouri! Whether it will stand is still unknown.

A spokesman for Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon would not speculate on whether the decision would be appealed. But Governor Matt Blunt urged Nixon to do so.

“This ruling violates our traditional Missouri values and is an affront to everyone that values the sanctity of human life,” Blunt said in a written statement. “I urge the attorney general to fight this ruling that prevents the state of Missouri from protecting innocent human life.”

» Filed Under ACLU, Abortion, News

Trackback URL

Comments

3 Responses to “ACLU Applauds Decision Allowing Women Prisoners in Missouri to Access Abortion”

Maj M.T. Rational XXXIV on July 18th, 2006 11:41 pm

You’re certainly entitled to your beliefs on abortion, but whether abortion is right or wrong is not at play in this case. So long as abortion remains legal, inmates should have access to abortions as part of their right to health care. Denying them that right is at the moment unconstitutional.
Jay on July 19th, 2006 8:03 am

I’m objecting to the taxpayer having to pay for their transportation. They should have to pay their own costs.
kerwin_brown on July 19th, 2006 9:21 pm

Blunt deserves an applause for what he said.

If you go by the U.S. Constitution then the Thirteen Amendment says a convicted prisoner can legaly be a slave and is limited to equal protection under the law and due process of law. The Fourteenth does not overturn the Thirteenth Amendment.

There is no Constitutional right to health care as is no such socialist right in U.S. history.