A response to the February 8 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Politifact article; by Dan Becker, President Georgia Right to Life
Your February 8th Politifact-Georgia article: “Abortion foe overreaches in describing context of court ruling” suggested I misread a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling upheld—and even expanded—a lower court decision that applied the state’s chemical endangerment statute to pre-born children.
The lower court only said the endangerment statue applies to viable pre-born children. The Supreme Court expanded the meaning to pre-born children at all stages of development.
The court’s decision did advance the cause of protecting innocent life by in effect applying personhood status to a new area of Alabama law.
Your article incorrectly pointed to a South Carolina ruling as proof that the decision was not unique. That’s not an apples-to-apples comparison since the South Carolina ruling only applied to a viable fetus, not pre-viable as the Alabama ruling does. This latest ruling extended personhood status for the first time to all pre-born children in a different area of Alabama law without juridical restrictions on viability.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Tom Parker said Roe v. Wade—aside from authorizing the right to abortion—was not relevant in deciding the case.
“Subsequently, Roe has sometimes been misread as holding that those unborn children are not persons and do not have the same fundamental rights as does every other person, which rights are protected by law. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
This encouraging decision reflects a broader nationwide trend aimed at establishing personhood status to all children from the moment of conception.
A few recent examples include:
- Last August, 66 percent of Georgia Republican voters approved a non-binding primary ballot question calling on the state to place human rights amendment before all voters.
- This month, the North Dakota House of Representatives and the Montana Senate approved bills that grant legal protection to children at all stages of development.
These, and developments in other states, prove that the tide is indeed turning as more and more people recognize that it’s time to end the culture of death that has plagued our nation for 40 years. That shadow has resulted in the death of more than 55 million innocent children.
That’s why our opponents are so worried; they know Georgia, and many other states, are rejecting the idea that some lives are more valuable than others.
GRTL's E-News 