Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and Sen. Betty Boyd released statements today criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the federal, so-called Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. By a 5-4 vote, the Court said the 2003 ban does not violate the Constitution. Dissenting, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote: “It tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.”
more after the jump…Fitz-Gerald’s statement:
“The Supreme Court has ruled today directly against the best interest of women’s health and safety. This latest decision denies doctors the ability to perform a procedure that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists find necessary and proper in certain circumstances.
Today women have lost access to proper health care during what is already a difficult time in their life. I am saddened for the women who will tragically be denied the safest procedure that would have protected those women’s reproductive health.”
Boyd’s statement:
“I am saddened that the Supreme Court feels that they are in a better position to practice medicine than doctors. This decision places political consideration ahead of professional medical decisions. These medical decisions should be made by a patient in concert with her doctor and her family. If the so-called partial birth abortion refers to late term abortions, these are the situations which are most often medically necessary. Sadly, this court decision takes from women some ability to control their own health care decisions.”
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