Federal Abortion Ban Held Unconstitutional A Third Time
Pro-Choice Voters Energized to Elect a Pro-Choice President, John Kerry
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2004
Contact: Kelda Helen Roys
608-213-4502
Lincoln, Nebraska – A third federal judge held President Bush’s federal abortion ban unconstitutional today. Echoing both earlier court decisions, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf’s strongly worded opinion decimated the ban as “unreasonable.”
“President Bush’s anti-choice law has been struck down three times in three courts, but he will not stop his assault on women. We remember the President, surrounded by nine men, signing this unconscionable bill, which contained no exceptions for the health of women,” said Kelda Helen Roys, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin.
“Bush’s record is clear – he thinks American women have no right to privacy, and he is willing to trade women’s well-being to satisfy his extremist base,” said Roys. “Wisconsin’s pro-choice majority will reject his dangerous policies this fall by voting for a pro-choice President and Vice-President.”
As the political arm of the pro-choice movement, NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin is aggressively targeting voters to elect pro-choice candidates in state legislative races.
The ban was intentionally vague, aiming to eliminate a whole range of safe, necessary abortion procedures as early as 12-15 weeks. Anti-choice proponents of the bill deceptively touted it as covering only late-term abortions in an attempt to conceal their true intentions – to make all abortions illegal.
“According to responsible medical opinion, there are times when the banned procedure is medically necessary to preserve the health of a woman and a respectful reading of the congressional record proves that point,” wrote Judge Kopf. “No reasonable and unbiased person could come to a different conclusion.”
NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, the state’s leading organization dedicated to political advocacy for reproductive rights, works to guarantee women the right to choose safe, legal abortion, while reducing unintended pregnancy through access to birth control and comprehensive sex education.
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