August 27, 2021

Supreme Court to Hear Two Eugenic Abortion Cases Next Month

In September, the Supreme Court is set to hold hearings on several pro-life cases, including two cases that involve the legality of banning abortions based on Down syndrome or other disabilities.

These two cases are Schmitt v. Reproductive Health Services and Rutledge v. Little Rock Family Planning Services.

Schmitt v. Reproductive Health Services is a case regarding a Missouri law that bans abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy in addition to discriminatory abortions based exclusively on a Down syndrome diagnosis. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the law in June, but Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is hoping that the Supreme Court will take a different stance.

In a press release, Schmitt outlined three questions he wanted the Supreme Court to answer in its opinion:
"Whether Missouri’s restriction on abortions performed solely because the unborn child may have Down syndrome is categorically invalid under Casey and Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), or whether it is a valid, reasonable regulation of abortion that seeks to prevent the elimination of children with Down syndrome through eugenic abortion?

Whether Missouri’s restrictions on abortions performed after eight, fourteen, eighteen, and twenty weeks’ gestational age are categorically invalid, or whether they are valid, reasonable regulations of abortion that advance important state interests?

Whether the “penumbral” right to abortion recognized in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and partially reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), should be overruled?"

Rutledge v. Little Rock Family Planning Services is another case involving a challenge to an Arkansas law that banned discriminatory abortions based on a baby's diagnosis with Down syndrome. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge asked the Supreme Court to overturn lower court rulings blocking Arkansas's law in a press release of her own:

“In my personal experiences, I know individuals with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome, but they also have extra love to give and I will fight for these innocent individuals who are a gift from God,” she said. “The Constitution does not sanction killing an unborn child just because that child may have Down syndrome and I will not stand by and allow this practice to happen.”

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