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Tanuki

(14,918 posts) Tue Dec 31, 2013, 11:04 AM Dec 2013

RIP Dr. Kenneth Edelin (famous for landmark abortion case)

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/12/30/doctor-landmark-abortion-case-dies-cancer/z90iWXW1v4jcbjKEbiAeZP/story.html

..."Edelin made national headlines when he was convicted of manslaughter in 1975 for performing an abortion. That was two years after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure with its decision on Roe v. Wade. According to NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Massachusetts Supreme Court later overturned Edelin’s guilty verdict, in a case that helped legally define what an abortion is and when human life begins. Edelin went on to become an outspoken activist and spokesman for reproductive rights, the LDF said. He also served as a chairman of the board of Planned Parenthood. Edelin joined the LDF’s senior board in 1986.

‘‘Dr. Edelin was a fearless man of integrity and conviction,’’ LDF Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill said in a prepared statement. ‘‘As an LDF board member, he was a powerful voice and advocate for civil rights.’’

Edelin was the first black person to become chief resident of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the history of Boston City Hospital, according to the LDF. In the book ‘‘Broken Justice: A True Story of Race, Sex and Revenge in a Boston Courtroom,’’ Edelin recounted the experiences of his criminal case. ‘‘At the center of this book are the rights of women to control their own bodies, and the rights of doctors to perform legitimate and legal medical procedures,’’ Edelin wrote. ‘‘For me, the struggles for reproductive rights for women and Civil Rights for African-Americans are intertwined and at the same time parallel. The denial of these two rights is an attempt by some to control the bodies of others. Both are forms of slavery. We must never let slavery in any form return to America.’’

4 replies

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RIP Dr. Kenneth Edelin (famous for landmark abortion case) (Original Post) Tanuki Dec 2013 OP

requiescat in pacem, dr. edelin. thank you for what you did for women. niyad Dec 2013 #1

RIP, Dr. Edelin. A true hero. PeaceNikki Dec 2013 #2

for those unfamiliar with the case (and, oh my, do those tactics sound familiar??) niyad Dec 2013 #3

some decent coverage of the issues involved in this case, from the atlantic, 1975 niyad Dec 2013 #4

niyad

(113,315 posts)

1. requiescat in pacem, dr. edelin. thank you for what you did for women.

Reply to Tanuki (Original post)

Tue Dec 31, 2013, 11:30 AM

Dec 2013

and this:

We must never let slavery in any form return to America.’’

PeaceNikki

(27,985 posts)

2. RIP, Dr. Edelin. A true hero.

Reply to Tanuki (Original post)

Tue Dec 31, 2013, 11:32 AM

Dec 2013

niyad

(113,315 posts)

3. for those unfamiliar with the case (and, oh my, do those tactics sound familiar??)

Reply to Tanuki (Original post)

Tue Dec 31, 2013, 11:39 AM

Dec 2013

. . .

Edelin was a surgical resident in obstetrics and gynecology at Boston City Hospital when he performed the abortion in question, on an unwed 17-year-old. Because the procedure occurred nine months after Roe v. Wade, the prosecution couldn't argue that he committed murder by performing the abortion itself. Instead, they contended that he did so by depriving the fetus of oxygen after it was still alive in the womb. A year after a Boston jury found him guilty of manslaughter, an appellate court rejected this argument, overturning the ruling on the following basis:

The appellate court held that a doctor could commit manslaughter only by ending the life of a fetus that was definitely alive outside the woman's body. It rejected the prosecution theory that the fetus might have been alive in the uterus after being separated from the uterine wall, and was thus a "person" for purposes of the manslaughter law.

The ruling also clarified the definition of "life," saying that it meant having heartbeats and respiration — more than "several transient cardiac transactions" and more than "fleeting respiratory efforts or gasps." Besides giving doctors protection by defining when a fetus is a live person, the ruling also protected them from criminal liability for failing to take "heroic measures" to save a fetus once it was outside a woman's body.

The case was also notable for its political theater, including early use of disingenuous tactics designed to restrict choice. Jurors later said that they found the doctor guilty after prosecutors showed a picture of the fetus whose face was "distorted as if in pain." In addition, the prosecutor, Newman A. Flanagan, had designs on the Suffolk County District Attorney seat, and won praise for taking on a case that could severely limit abortion. As if that weren't enough, Edelin, who happened to be African American, was convicted by an all-white jury, 9 out of 12 of whom were men, and 10 of whom identified as Catholic.

. . .

http://jezebel.com/pro-choice-hero-dr-kenneth-edelin-dies-at-74-1491852815

niyad

(113,315 posts)

4. some decent coverage of the issues involved in this case, from the atlantic, 1975