Missouri must allow inmates to have abortions

Source: MSNBC/Associated Press

Missouri must allow inmates to have abortions
Federal appeals court also tells state to provide transportation to clinics
updated 38 minutes ago

ST. LOUIS - The state of Missouri must provide transportation to clinics for inmates who want to have an abortion, a federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday.

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the state had to allow a specific inmate, listed as Jane Roe, to have an abortion after the state tried to end the practice of driving prisoners to clinics for elective abortions.

The American Civil Liberties Union then sought a federal ruling making the high court's decision a class-action on behalf of all imprisoned pregnant women in the state.

U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple ruled in 2006 that the state must allow pregnant inmates to have abortions and take them to facilities that perform the procedure. Tuesday's decision by the three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the lower court ruling.

"The court recognized that the right to elect to have an abortion survives incarceration," said Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union's St. Louis office. "This was about providing women with the opportunity to exercise their choice even though they were incarcerated."




Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22790110/

k&r

Abortions threaten their job security by reducing the pool of criminals in the upcoming generation.

Crime rates went down when abortion was legalized.

I'm pretty familiar with the "habitual criminal" segment of the Lumpenproletariat, and had pretty much figured this part out for myself.

That's a good call for women. I'll bet the Pro-Life crowd will be having coniption fits over this ruling.

Reason and law triumphs emotion, and in the justice system, no less!