This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest via post by Bob Unruh
“The constitutional provision tips the balance in favor of the protection of unborn children”
An Alabama state Supreme Court ruling has issued a surprising verdict: embryos are “babies” under state law and protected by the same laws that apply to already born children.
The decision essentially established that unborn children are a person. The question posed was whether a state law protecting children excluded those not yet born.
“Under the current law written in black, the answer to this question is no: the wrongful death of a minor law applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.” the court said. “[T]The regulatory text in question is clear: the law on the wrongful death of a minor applies directly to all unborn children, without any limitation.”
The decision overturned a lower court’s ruling that had dismissed a lawsuit brought by three couples over the destruction of their embryos at a clinic.
“The law on the wrongful death of a child applies to all unborn children, regardless of their place of residence,” the court said.
A Fox report explains: “The couples filing the lawsuit allege that a vagrant patient gained access to the cryogenic storage area, removed the embryos from the freezer and dropped them on the floor, destroying them.”
The ruling sends the case back to Mobile Circuit Court for further proceedings. The couples are asking for damages.
The previous one is already used.
“Liberty Counsel filed supplemental authority today with the Florida Supreme Court regarding the proposed abortion amendment to the Florida Constitution. Currently, the Florida Constitution protects the rights of a “natural person.” During oral argument on Feb. 7, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz asked lawyers on both sides of the abortion issue whether the ballot summary should inform voters how the proposed abortion amendment might affect impact on the Constitution if its definition of “natural person” also included the unborn,” the legal team explained.
“Liberty Counsel is using the Alabama ruling to argue that Florida’s Constitution, like Alabama’s, states ‘that an unborn child qualifies as a human life, a human being, and a person.’ In response to Chief Justice Muñiz’s question, Florida’s deceptive proposed amendment as written deceives voters by not explaining how it will take away a protected right to life for the unborn,” the legal team said.
The ruling stated: “All parties to these cases, as well as all members of this Court, agree that an unborn child is a genetically unique human being whose life begins at fertilization and ends at death. . The parties further agree that an unborn child usually qualifies as a “human life,” “human being,” or “person,” as such words are used in ordinary conversation and in the text of manslaughter laws. ‘Alabama. This is true, as everyone recognizes, at all stages of an unborn child’s development, regardless of its vitality.”
It stated: “The ordinary meaning of ‘child’ includes children who have not yet been born.”
Chief Justice Tom Parker, who wrote a special lecture, said: “A good judge follows the Constitution rather than policy, except when the Constitution itself commands the judge to follow a certain policy. In these cases, that means upholding the sacredness of unborn life, including unborn life that exists outside the womb. Our State Constitution contains the following statement of public policy: “This State recognizes, declares and affirms that it is the public policy of this State to recognize and uphold the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life .’”
Parker said: “The people of Alabama have declared it the public policy of this State that unborn human life is sacred. We believe that every human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God. Putting it all together, [the law] does much more than simply state a moral value that appeals to the people of Alabama. Instead, this constitutional provision tips the balance of the law in favor of protecting unborn life.”
Mat Staver, head of Liberty Counsel, which has fought for pro-life issues for decades, said: “Every unborn life is a human being. Every human life begins as an embryo, and now the Alabama Supreme Court has upheld its citizens’ decision that every unborn life should be protected, regardless of its stage or location. This important ruling has far-reaching implications. Liberty Counsel is using this precedent to argue that Florida’s proposed deceptive and misleading abortion amendment violates the same Florida laws that routinely recognize that an “unborn child” has the legally protected rights of a person. Unborn life must be protected at every stage.”
Having the unborn declare their personhood has long been a goal of the pro-life movement, because if the unborn are “persons” under the law, all the legal protections provided by the Constitution and the law apply to them as well.
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