By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Center for Law and Justice has been leading the pro-life legal fight in the abortion battle during the coronavirus pandemic where Planned Parenthood has been insisting and operating their abortion clinics as an essential service: despite churches not being classified as essential throughout the nation.
This week, two circuit courts have made it clear that elective abortion is not an absolute right (preserving personal protective equipment for medical personnel engaged with Covid-19 patients during the pandemic):
- The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in regards to an Arkansas filing; and
- The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in regards to a Texas filing.
The American Center for Law and Justice had filed an emergency amicus brief in support of Arkansas power that protect its citizens against this deadly virus and argues that “the right to abortion is no exception.”
(Editor’s Note: To view the complete 16-page Eighth Circuit legal filing go to:
http://media.aclj.org/pdf/Arkansas-CTA-ACLJ-Amicus-Br-FILED-VERSION-4-17-2020_Redacted.pdf. To view the 68 page Fifth Circuit Court legal decision go to
http://media.aclj.org/pdf/Texas-CTA-20-50296-Revised-Opinion-4-20-2020.pdf.)
The Eight Circuit court quoted the Fifth Circuit decision that “the bottom line is this: when faced with a society-threatening epidemic, a state may implement emergency measures that curtail constitutional rights so long as the measures have at least some ‘real or substantial relation’ to the public health crisis and are not ‘beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law.’”
“These pro-life victories area a small step in disaffirming a ‘right’ to kill an unborn child,” said ACLJ Associate Counsel Christina Stierhoff, Abortion is not an exception to the emergency measures set in place to protect all U.S. citizens from this pandemic. We are watching for Planned Parenthood to appeal these cases to the Supreme Court because they will stop at nothing to further their mission of killing innocent babies.”
(Editor’s Note: An ACLJ’s petition to shut down Planned Parenthood’s abortions during the coronavirus pandemic—abortion clinics in the United States kill 950 babies a day—has been signed by 151,404 individuals. To read and sign the petition go to: https://aclj.org/pro-life/shut-down-planned-parenthoods-abortions.)
Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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