Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
April 25, 2000, Tuesday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A14
LENGTH: 358 words
HEADLINE: A
DECEPTIVE ABORTION LAW
BODY:
The Nebraska abortion
law being argued before the US Supreme Court today
- the first abortion
case to reach the court since 1992 - may at first appear to restrict late-term
abortions. In fact, Nebraska's so-called "partial-birth
abortion" ban would outlaw a selected abortion procedure at any stage
of pregnancy, even a few weeks after conception and even if a doctor concluded
that the method was the safest choice for the patient. In these
two important ways - not making an exception for the health of the mother and
outlawing abortions even very early in pregnancy - the Nebraska law aims
straight at the heart of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion. Roe
established a careful balance of rights between the pregnant woman and the
fetus, saying that after the second trimester a woman can have an abortion only
if her health or life is threatened. The Nebraska law upends this balance by
placing fetal rights above a woman's health. And it inserts a pernicious
redefinition of abortion rights based not on gestation but on the location of
the fetus. Once a fetus is partially removed from the woman's uterus - at any
stage of its development - the Nebraska law could make any abortion a crime.
Thirty states have passed such laws using almost identically vague
language. In the 21 states where they have been challenged, 18 have been blocked
or declared unconstitutional by lower courts. This actually includes the
Nebraska law, but other decisions in Wisconsin and Illinois have created a split
between circuits, bringing the issue before the nation's highest court.
Today's case is called Stenberg v. Carhart, named for Nebraska's
attorney general and Dr. Leroy Carhart, an abortion provider who has been moved
to activism by threats, harassment, and arson that destroyed his home in 1991,
killing the family pets and 17 horses. In a statement released when the court
announced it would hear the case, Carhart said, "No doctor should accept being
forced to provide less than the best medical care." We hope the justices will
share Carhart's courage to depoliticize medicine and keep abortion safe and
legal.
LOAD-DATE: April 25, 2000
