Celebrated liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued in an opinion released Tuesday that a pregnant woman is not a “mother.”
“[A] woman who exercises her constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy is not a ‘mother’,” Ginsburg wrote in a footnote, which in turn responded to another footnote in the 20-page concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas in the Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky Inc. case.
As Breitbart News’ legal editor Ken Klukowski reported, the case concerned a law signed by then-Governor (now Vice President) Mike Pence of Indiana in 2016, which required that the remains of an aborted fetus (or baby) be disposed of by cremation or burial. The law also prohibited abortion on the basis of sex, race, or disability alone.
The Court upheld the first part of the law, but declined to consider the selective-abortion ban until more appellate courts had ruled on it.
Trump’s tougher round-two birthright citizenship strategy hinges on key legal distinction, experts say
Appeals court delivers unsettling ruling — and says Supreme Court left it no choice
‘Tony’ is an annoying, unimpressive biopic of Anthony Bourdain
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott moves to cut state funding for AI-powered Flock cameras amid privacy concerns
WATCH: Wanted man escapes cops twice by running onto freeway, then walks into their Panda Express lunch
Nashville airport could be renamed in honor of Dolly Parton
NYC Judge Frees Man Accused of Shooting Service Dog of Woman with Down Syndrome While Attempting to Kill Man
Big Bend border wall construction pause extended to September
DOJ Arrests Honduran Man Accused of Taking Advantage of California’s Weak Election Laws
Bryan Kohberger seeks judge’s removal in escalating bid to undo guilty plea
At March on Washington, an urgent plea for black voters to turn out in the midterm elections
LGBTQ group reveals which Dem nominee is sponsoring Halloween event featuring drag shows
3-Time Pro-Bowl Running Back Josh Jacobs Is Facing Criminal Charges
Right-Wing Provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos Detained by ICE in Louisiana: Report
Appeals court denies Peter Navarro bid to rehear contempt challenge: ‘Always headed to Supreme Court’
In his lengthy opinion — which delighted pro-life advocates, and distressed pro-choice activists — Thomas wrote that “this law and other laws like it promote a State’s compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics.” He traced the racist and eugenicist beliefs of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, and warned that the Court would one day need to wrestle with abortion as form of racial discrimination.
In a footnote, Thomas attacked Ginsberg’s dissenting opinion, which argued the Court should not have deferred to the legal standard used by the litigants in the lower courts, but should have subjected the Indiana law to a more difficult standard instead, since it impacted “the right of [a] woman” to an abortion.
Ginsburg cited no legal authority for her claim that a pregnant woman is not a “mother.” The claim that a fetus is not a child is central to pro-choice arguments.
Story cited here.
