Over 40 Prosecutors Refuse To Enforce New Anti-Abortion Laws
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Dozens of state and local prosecutors released a statement Friday vowing not to enforce extreme anti-abortion restrictions recently passed in their states. “As elected prosecutors with charging discretion, we choose not to prosecute individuals pursuant to these deeply concerning laws,” reads the statement issued by Fair and Just Prosecution, an advocacy group whose members include local prosecutors. The statement is signed by 42 elected officials, including 12 state attorneys general. The signers represent jurisdictions in 24 states, including Georgia, Alabama, Texas and Ohio, which are among those that have recently passed or proposed laws sharply restricting or outright banning abortion.
“To fulfill our obligations as prosecutors and ministers of justice, to preserve the integrity of the system and keep our communities safe and healthy, it is imperative that we use our discretion to decline to prosecute personal healthcare choices criminalized under such laws,” the statement says. The prosecutors argue that anti-abortion restrictions passed in 11 states this year are unconstitutional under the historic Roe v. Wade ruling, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S. Additionally, they say many of the new laws are written so vaguely that they criminalize nearly everyone involved in an abortion procedure, including people receiving an abortion, medical professionals and even the person who drove the patient to get the procedure.
Alabama passed the most extreme of the new laws last month, banning all abortions from the time a person is “known to be pregnant” and providing no exceptions for rape or incest. The law punishes doctors performing abortions with prison sentences of 10 years to 199 years. Georgia passed a “heartbeat bill” last month, which bans abortion at around six weeks ― a time when most women do not know they’re pregnant. That law allows prosecutors to charge anyone involved in or assisting with an abortion procedure. Other states that have recently passed anti-abortion restrictions include Ohio, Missouri and Louisiana. In April, lawmakers in Texas introduced a bill that would threaten people who undergo an abortion procedure with the death penalty.
The prosecutors’ statement says they hold varying opinions on the “personal or moral level” of abortion, but agree for certain on one thing: Criminalizing abortion will hurt marginalized people, such as survivors of rape or incest. “Laws that re-victimize and re-traumatize victims are unconscionable,” the statement reads. ”... The wise exercise of discretion suggests focusing prosecutorial resources on the child molester or rapist, and not on prosecuting the victim herself, or the healthcare professionals who provide that victim with needed care and treatment.” Sherry Boston, Georgia district attorney for DeKalb County, which includes part of Atlanta, explained in the press release that she’s concerned for victims of rape and incest.
“I question the constitutionality of these laws, which fail to consider the needs and suffering of victims of child molestation, rape and incest,” Boston said. “As an elected DA, I have a responsibility to use my limited resources to enforce laws that are legally sound and promote the safety, health and well-being of all members of my community – including vulnerable victims.”
Other signers of the statement represent states that have taken action this year to protect abortion rights.
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The death penalty for anyone having an abortion? It doesn't get more draconian and unconstitutional than that! I would expect that from some 3rd world or theocracy based government. But this is what some people want here in America. That is both mind boggling and disturbing to say the least!
At least there are some people in those backwards states that have a little common sense.
Gee, ya think?
No doubt that was done intentionally.
Because some people think "to hel! with women. They're just incubators. A fetus is more important than they are!"
It's rather unbelievable that in this day and age, abortion is still an issue. Abortion is a legal medical procedure and a woman's right to choose! It's also no one else's business! Get over it!
John c. Calhoun would be proud.
Nullification employed to keep America white,
I know some people will see this as some kind of insurrection, but this is actually how the founders envisioned this working. They assumed that people throughout government - in all branches - would be interpreting the Constitution and acting accordingly. When you're sworn in as attorney, you take an oath to support the Constitution, so they are acting appropriately.
No they aren't.
Admission to the bar doesn't make one a co equal branch of government. The job of the prosecutor is to enforce the legally enacted laws, until they are no longer operative. Imagine a country where each county prosecutor (and each of his or her assistants), was able to decide which laws applied in their particular jurisdiction on that particular day in that particular court. They should resign if their morals don't allow them to enforce the laws that are on the books.
This is Kim Davis in Kentucky all over again.
That's the job until you honestly believe you would be violating the Constitution by doing so. We are talking about a situation here where the requirements of the job directly conflict with the oath taken to be a licensed attorney. It would be an ethical violation for an attorney to dishonestly present to the court as constitutional, an argument he believed to be unconstitutional. That would be grounds for discipline from the state bar, including possibly losing one's license to practice.
Then you resign.
It would be an ethical violation for an attorney to dishonestly present to the court as constitutional, an argument he believed to be unconstitutional.
Then the attorney should resign.
District Attorney's enforce the laws of their jurisdiction. If they can't do it in good faith, the proper thing to do is resign. A DA who believes the death penalty is unconstitutional cannot unilaterally declare the death penalty unconstitutional.
That's not necessary. This kind of thing comes up all the time in private and public practice. Attorneys are often faced with something they consider unethical and they have a duty to alert their superiors to this problem. There is often a reasonable workaround - like either getting someone else to do it, or deciding it doesn't need to be done that way. You don't have to just quit your job.
If he is otherwise a good attorney, his employer might excuse him from those cases.
These laws have not yet been subject to judicial review. Just because they were passed by a legislature and signed by a governor doesn't mean that they are constitutional.
These laws are blatantly unconstitutional and directly conflict with established SCOTUS precedent. While I have little doubt they will be struck down upon judicial review, these lawmakers must know from the outset these laws are unconstitutional. They are clearly trying to force a showdown with the SCOTUS. But history is not on their side in this debate.
The DAs know that these laws are not enforceable and they are not going tom waste their time and possibly jeopardize their career prosecuting them.
I read that because of a disagreement over Alabama's new abortion law, that a 26 million dollar donation to the University Of Alabama was returned. (I don't have a link)
Here is the link :
I have been a Crimson Tide fan since Bear Bryant was coach but this BS is starting to hurt that