The hopes of many advocates for the unborn were dashed recently when the appeal of Roe v. Wade was rejected in federal court. Norma McCorvey, the Jane Doe of the original Supreme Court case which legalized abortion in the United States, now firmly against the ruling she had fought to win, attempted its overthrow. As the original plaintiff, there was hope that she could prevail for life as she had once prevailed for death. The federal court said no to the appeal, but...

At least one judge, writing separately, was moved by the new findings of modern science (old to godly common sense) regarding the nature of the life found in the womb. Defenders of life can be heartened that at least this information is being heard and may continue to move the law from death to life.

The judge's conclusions were contained in an article in "National Review." Here is an excerpt from the article, "A Tough Boat to Roe."

[Beginning of excerpt] What was surprising, though, was Judge Edith Jones powerful five-page separate opinion. While Judge Jones agreed that the court had no power to reopen the original Roe decision, her opinion assures that McCorvey's arguments did not fall entirely on deaf ears. Calling the original decision, an "exercise in raw judicial power," Judge Jones observed that McCorvey's voluminous new evidence "goes to the balance Roe struck between the choice of the mother and the life of her unborn child." Citing both the testimony of post-abortive women and scientific studies, Judge Jones reasoned that the evidence "suggests that women may be affected emotionally and physically for years afterward and may be more prone to engage in high risk, self-destructive conduct as a result of having had abortions." The same evidence took aim at the myth of a close collaborative relationship between abortionist and patient. Testimony of workers at abortion clinics showed that "women are often herded through their procedures with little or no medical or emotional counseling." Indeed, one former abortion clinic worker described how abortion physicians she worked with would work on commission and perform 10 to 12 abortions per hour.

Judge Jones further cited evidence showing dramatic advances in the sociological status of women — especially unwed women — that undermine the necessity of abortion. "No longer does the unwed mother face social ostracism, and government programs offer medical care, social services, and even...the option of leaving a newborn directly in the care of the state until it can be adopted."

But perhaps most importantly, Judge Jones cited evidence showing that neonatal and medical science "now graphically portrays, as science was unable to do 31 years ago, how a baby develops sensitivity to external stimuli and to pain much earlier than was then believed." The evidence reviewed by Judge Jones on the issue of fetal pain was similar to that produced by the federal government in recent trials on the constitutionality of partial-birth abortion. There, an Oxford-educated specialist in neonatal pain, Dr. Kanwaljeeet Anand, testified that unborn children are likely to feel pain in the womb by 20 weeks of gestation — perhaps even earlier — and that abortion could therefore cause excruciating pain for an unborn child. Reviewing similar evidence before her, Judge Jones concluded that "if courts were to delve into the facts underlying Roe 's balancing scheme with present day knowledge, they might conclude that the woman's 'choice' is far more risky and less beneficial, and the child's sentience far more advanced, than the Roe court knew." [end of excerpt]
 

The full text of this article can be found at: http://nationalreview.com/coffin/coffin200409160630.asp
 

Let us pray fervently to the Lord Almighty that this reasoning may replace the insane judgments which have wrought such profound damage to so many in our society.

in Christ and Life
Fr. Jason Kappanadze, Pastor