ND Judge: State Right To Abortion Broader Than Roe v. Wade, Ruling Could Nullify All Pro-life Laws In North Dakota

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- North Dakota Judge Wickham Corwin struck down two abortion regulations Monday, which prohibited medical abortion and required abortion facilities to have hospital-admitting privileges. Personhood USA says the sweeping ruling could affect all pro-life legislation and that only the personhood amendment will guarantee legal rights for the preborn.

Ruling in favor of the state's lone abortion clinic and the Center for Reproductive Rights, Judge Corwin determined that the state constitution provided "no justification for regulation or restriction" of abortion. "No compelling state interest justifies this infringement," Corwin wrote. The judge had previously announced his intention to strike the 2011 law and nullified the 2013 law without a hearing.

The state's Catholic bishops have decried the ruling, pointing out that it discovers a "fundamental" right to abortion in the North Dakota constitution "more expansive than that used by the U.S. Supreme Court." http://myemail.constantcontact.com/State-s-Catholic-Bishops-Decry-Expansive-Abortion-Ruling.html?soid=1104155438875&aid=3hq9oMCpOr0

"Judge Corwin's decision is a classic example of raw judicial activism," said Gualberto Garcia-Jones, Personhood USA's legal analyst. "At the heart of the ruling is the notion that the liberty clause in the North Dakota constitution trumps the right to life of unborn children. Now, the only option left for pro-life advocates in North Dakota is the personhood amendment, which is designed to protect the right to life and prevent runaway judges from imposing their ideology on the rest of the citizens of North Dakota."

In March, the North Dakota legislature passed a personhood amendment. It will now go to the people to be approved in November 2014. The amendment would change the constitution to guarantee that "the inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development must be recognized and protected."

"Not able to win in the legislature, abortion advocates like the Center for Reproductive Rights shopped for a judge willing to trump the state constitution and the will of the people to impose their social agenda," Garcia-Jones continued. "Ironically, the man who is purporting to stand for 'women's rights' is Judge Corwin who has been involved in sexual harassment scandals and recently refused to impose the mandatory sentence for a child rapist, reducing the sentence from 20 years to 5 years. Abortion empowers sexual predators so it is no surprise that Corwin was the judge chosen by the abortion industry." http://www.bakkentoday.com/event/article/id/366957/publisher_ID/1/

SOURCE Personhood USA