Newsday, October 20, 2005
Abortion rights facing multiple attacks
By Sheryl McCarthy
The Supreme Court did the right thing this week when it rejected an appeal by Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt seeking to prevent a female prison inmate from getting an abortion.
The decision showed once again what an important buffer the court provides against states that are bent on sabotaging the rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade. And with new evidence showing that court nominee Harriet Miers once signed a questionnaire pledging to support a federal constitutional amendment banning abortion, her nomination to the court has suddenly gotten scarier.
"Jane Roe" is a woman in her 20s serving a four-year sentence at a correctional center in Vandalia, Mo. On probation after being convicted of possessing methamphetamine, she went to California without permission. After being arrested there, she learned she was pregnant, and before she could arrange an abortion, was returned to Missouri.
Roe is about 16 weeks pregnant, and has been trying to arrange an abortion for 10 weeks. But Missouri prison officials kept stalling. So she finally sued. For years, Missouri transported inmates who wanted abortions - about one a year - to an abortion provider, although the inmates paid for the abortions themselves. The cost is about $350 for gas and the services of two prison guards.
But last summer, after a state legislator complained about the expense of taking inmates to abortion providers, to funerals and to visit sick relatives, prison officials changed the rules.
Never mind that it would cost the state thousands more in medical and hospital expenses if Roe had the baby while in prison, and thousands more if the child had to be put into foster care. This was an anti-abortion move. And since Missouri bans abortions after 22 weeks, it was in effect telling Roe, "We're going to make you have this baby because we don't believe in abortion."
Federal District Court Judge Dean Whipple ruled that this was illegal, that the federal courts have clearly established a woman's constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. And while a state can express its public policy, it can't place "undue burdens" or "substantial obstacles" in the way of her exercising that right.
Missouri is one of a number of states that are making a frontal assault on abortion rights. In September, Gov. Blunt called a special session of the legislature that passed a bill allowing the parents to sue anyone who gives a teenage girl information about or assistance in obtaining an abortion - in a state where parental consent isn't required. Three years ago, the legislature de-funded a state family planning program that provided medical services, but no abortions, to poor women, because Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider, took part in the program.
Missouri law prohibits the use of public funds to pay for abortions unless it's required to save the mother's life, but until now this wasn't considered a prohibition on simply transporting inmates who wanted one.
"We've never seen a policy this extreme," said Diana Kasdan, one of the ACLU lawyers who represented Jane Roe, "and no court has ever held that such a policy is constitutional."
Previous challenges to Roe v. Wade have been decided in the Supreme Court by 5-to-4 votes, and the future of that decision has become even more uncertain as the anti-abortion Bush administration begins to replace vacancies on the court. While John G. Roberts is suspected to personally oppose abortion, and Harriet Miers is known to, I doubt that Roberts would let his personal beliefs trump his respect for years of legal precedent.
For a minute there I suspected the same was true of Miers. But this new revelation makes her suspect. The Senate Judiciary Committee needs to probe whether her opposition to abortion is a personal and religious one, or whether she also opposes it on legal grounds. The Jane Roe case shows how much the rights guaranteed by Roe are under attack, and how much we need a Supreme Court that will defend them.
Sheryl McCarthy's e-mail address is mccart731@aol.com.