FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 30, 2016
Contact: Nicole Stacy, [email protected]; 202-223-8073
Dannenfelser: Judge Pratt permits deadly prejudice in order to protect unlimited abortion on-demand, for any reason, up until the moment of birth.
Washington, D.C. – The national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) today expressed deep disappointment when a federal judge in Indianapolis issued a temporary injunction against the Indiana Sex Selective and Disability Abortion Ban, legislation to protect unborn children subject to abortion purely because of their race, sex or disability.
“Indiana legislators like State Senator Liz Brown were acting on the will of the pro-life grassroots when they sought to eliminate this lethal discrimination,” explained Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List. “In overruling that mandate, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt is permitting deadly prejudice in order to protect unlimited abortion on-demand, for any reason, up until the moment of birth. Today’s ruling detracts from what has been accomplished in so many other areas of the law to prevent discrimination and other infringements on an individual’s rights because of biased perceptions about their worth and their abilities.”
Research by SBA List’s education arm, the Charlotte Lozier Institute and the Jerome Lejeune Foundation has found, and the experience of thousands of families has shown, that children with Down syndrome, for example, are extraordinarily happy and bring their families enormous blessings, despite particular challenges they may face.
“Today’s decision is profoundly disappointing because every life has value. These young people born with disabilities deserve our protection as much as an able-bodied child. With this decision, Hoosiers’ right to life is again put at risk,” added Indiana State Senator Liz Brown, who authored and sponsored the legislation.
In January 2015, Dr. David Prentice, a biochemist and vice president of research at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, testified in favor of the law. He argued the need for this legislation has only become more urgent with the development of new genetic tests that allow for examining unborn children for an ever-growing list of maladies.
“Fetal surgery is undergoing a rapid expansion as more doctors and parents realize the possibility, and even advantage, of surgery while the child is still within the womb,” Prentice testified. “We are also starting to see some conditions, including genetic abnormalities such as severe immune deficiencies and osteogenesis imperfecta, treated in the womb using adult stem cells or gene therapy. These are very young patients, and should be treated as such.”
The Susan B. Anthony List and its Political Action Committees, the SBA List Candidate Fund and Women Speak Out PAC, spent $15.25 million in the 2014 election cycle to defeat pro-abortion incumbents and elect pro-life candidates to federal and statewide office. The SBA List is dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates who will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, the SBA List emphasizes the education, promotion, mobilization, and election of pro-life women. The SBA List is a network of more than 365,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.
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