Bishops' Official Welcomes Supreme Court Decision to Hear Partial-Birth Abortion Case
WASHINGTON (February 21, 2006)-- Today the United States Supreme Court announced that it will review Gonzales v. Carhart, the partial-birth abortion ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We welcome the news that the Supreme Court will take a new look at partial-birth abortion," said Deirdre A. McQuade, spokesperson for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.
Ms. McQuade said, "Abortion advocates once said the procedure was rare, and used only on women whose lives were in danger or whose unborn children were dying or severely disabled. But Ron Fitzsimmons, then Executive Director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admitted in 1997 that partial-birth abortions are 'primarily done on healthy women and healthy fetuses'. The Alan Guttmacher Institute estimates that 2,200 abortions were performed in 2000 using this grotesque method."
"Partial-birth abortion is not necessary for women's physical or emotional health. Extensive testimony reveals that there is no maternal health reason why such a gruesome and inhumane procedure must be performed," Ms. McQuade said.
"We are hopeful that the federal ban on partial-birth abortion will be upheld," she added.