U.S. Court Says Woman Can’t Be Charged for Inducing Abortion
Unless it is a public health issue, I don’t see how the woman should be charged for the method she uses to terminate her pregnancy.
Jennie Linn McCormack, an unmarried mother of three, was charged by Bannock County prosecutors last year after she ingested medication to induce an abortion. The drugs were approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and prescribed over the Internet, according to the opinion from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Idaho requires that abortions be performed during the first trimester in a hospital, doctor’s office or clinic. No licensed healthcare providers offered the procedure near where McCormack lived in southeastern Idaho, the opinion said.
The criminal case against McCormack was dismissed, and she filed a lawsuit claiming Idaho’s abortion law is unconstitutional. An Idaho federal judge issued an injunction saying the law can’t be enforced.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the 9th Circuit largely agreed. Criminal abortion statutes traditionally apply to individuals such as doctors, who perform unhealthy abortions that threaten women’s safety, the unanimous three-judge panel said.
Those laws shouldn’t apply to pregnant women themselves, according to the opinion.