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Last updated on Monday, November 26, 2018
(WASHINGTON, DC) - On November 15, 2018, attorneys with the Thomas More Society filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in the United States Supreme Court asking the high court to uphold an Indiana statute that bans abortions performed because of the unborn child’s race, gender, or possible disability. The statute also requires medical facilities to bury or cremate the remains of aborted babies.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that Indiana's law is unconstitutional because it imposes an undue burden on the right to obtain abortions and that there is no governmental purpose for requiring the burial of an aborted baby. By contrast, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit concluded otherwise and declared a virtually identical Minnesota statute to be constitutional.
Sarah Pitlyk, Thomas More Society Special Counsel, explained the benefits of the Act. "House Enrolled Act 1337, also referred to as the 'fetal characteristic abortion ban,' prohibits the deplorable practice of aborting a baby because of his or her race, gender, or ability, and it requires that the bodies of aborted babies be treated with dignity." Pitlyk added, "No humane civilization can support racism, sexism, or eugenics by any method, and it's hard to imagine how anyone could object to the respectful treatment of human remains. The fact that there is even any opposition to HEA 1337 is shocking, and it points to how badly such laws are needed."
The Thomas More Society brief details the primary reasons that the United States Supreme Court should uphold the Indiana anti-discrimination statute:
Abortion for the purpose of eliminating a disabled person has become commonplace in the U.S.
Although the U.S. is a society that purports to value accessibility, diversity, and tolerance, data establishes that it is aborting two-thirds of identified Down syndrome babies, and even larger numbers of babies with other "imperfections."
Pitlyk cautions that non-invasive prenatal diagnostic tools are becoming more common, more accurate, and less expensive in the U.S., and they are delivering earlier and earlier results. "Because pre-natal diagnosis techniques are developing rapidly, anti-discrimination laws such as HEA 1337 are urgently needed. Indiana's statute is a reasonable legislative response to odious social practices. Not unlike hate crime legislation, these laws protect citizens from their worst tendencies and behaviors."
Read the amicus brief filed by the Thomas More Society on November 15, 2018, in Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health, et al. v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc., et al., on behalf of The Restoration Project, Pastor Joseph Parker of Greater Turner Chapel A.M.E. Church, Everlasting Light Ministries, and Protect Life and Marriage Texas, here.
About the Thomas More Society
The Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago and Omaha, the Thomas More Society fosters support for these causes by providing high-quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. For more information, visit thomasmoresociety.org.
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