Alabama Supreme Court justice blasts U.S. abortion law (Updated) (al.com)

By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville Times

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Alabama Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker took aim Friday at U.S. abortion law, using a DeKalb County case to call for states to reject the concept of "viability" of a fetus and give legal rights to the unborn.

The state court ruled unanimously Friday that a DeKalb County woman has the right to pursue a wrongful death claim against her doctors on behalf of her unborn child. The child was not old enough to live outside the womb, but a 2011 Alabama Supreme Court ruling said that such a claim could be filed even for a "previable fetus." The decision did not break new legal ground in abortion law.

In Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court said the state has a "compelling" interest in the life of an unborn child when it reaches "viability," when it can survive outside the womb. The U.S. Supreme Court has not defined viability by the age of the fetus, but left it to be determined by the mother's doctors.

In his widely noted opinion Friday, Parker, a staunch and vocal conservative, said the concept of viability in Roe was mistaken and does not have any effect on laws governing the rights of the unborn apart from the abortion question.

In an opinion filled with citations of books and other state court decisions, Parker wrote that the viability standard should be rejected by other states until it is overruled by the United States Supreme Court.
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more: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/02/alabama_supreme_court_justice.html




Hooboy ... our own local crazies are at it now ... it's like suddenly it's OK to be 50 years behind.

It appears this case is not likely to affect much of anything, but the judge is making it clear where his sympathies lie.