A Federal judge in New York has ruled that the law banning partial birth abortion is unconstitutional because it does not include a health exception. This judge even noted that the procedure is “gruesome, brutal, barbaric and uncivilized.” After making such an acknowledgement, how could he go on to declare the ban unconstitutional? Judge Richard Casey heard the testimony about the gruesome nature of the procedure. Why did he ignore the testimony that the procedure can never be medically justified to preserve the health of the mother?

Casey was the second judge to rule the partial birth abortion ban is unconstitutional. First, there was Judge Phyllis Hamilton in San Francisco. The third ruling came from Judge Richard Koph in Lincoln, Nebraska. All three judges hid behind the patently false claim that partial birth abortion is a necessary procedure to protect the health of the mother. Fortunately, the Bush administration is already taking steps to appeal these outlandish rulings to the U.S. Supreme Court.