Jul 11, 2005 / 22:00 pm
In response to a federal appeals court which recently ruled that the U.S.’s ban on partial birth abortion is unconstitutional, one prominent priest is speaking out saying that the court’s decision is utterly “irrational”, and that the Supreme Court needs new judges “who are not activists.”
Fr. Frank Pavone, president of the group Priests for Life, gained recent recognition as an advocate for the family of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who was starved by court order in defiance of her parent’s wishes.
On Friday, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called the 2003 federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional because they say it fails to allow for exceptions to protect a woman’s health.
"In effect,” wrote Judge Kermit Bye, “we believe when a lack of consensus exists in the medical community, the Constitution requires legislatures to err on the side of protecting women's health by including a health exception."