Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Federal Court Rules Unborn as 'Living Human Being'

-- From "Pro-Lifers Praise Ruling Allowing Statement on Abortion" by Kaitlynn Riely, CNSNews.com Correspondent 7/2/08

(CNSNews.com) - South Dakota may enforce a law that requires doctors to provide pregnant women with a written statement saying, "the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being," a federal appeals court ruled last Friday.

In Planned Parenthood v. Rounds, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit voted 7-4 to strike down a 2005 preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for South Dakota.

The injunction had prevented a statute - requiring abortion providers to tell women, in writing, that an abortion would terminate the life of a "living human being" - from taking effect. The decision by the appeals court reversed the injunction and remanded it to the district court for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.

The lawsuit, filed by Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, required the court to consider whether the definition of human being should include "the unborn human being during the entire embryonic and fetal ages from fertilization to full gestation."

The court's ruling said, "Planned Parenthood submitted no evidence to oppose that conclusion."

"The Eighth Circuit Court's ruling is another significant pro-life victory in South Dakota," [said Kyle Holt, director of operations for South Dakota Right to Life]. "It sheds light on the ugly reality that abortion ends the life of a living, breathing human being. Women deserve to know the truth, and now they can."

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