The NJ Supreme Court has ruled that doctors have "no legal duty" to tell women who obtaining abortions that the fetus is "a complete, separate, unique and irreplaceable human being."
Justice Barry T. Albin, who wrote the 5-to-0 decision, said, "There is not even remotely a consensus among New Jersey’s medical community or citizenry that the plaintiff’s assertions are medical facts, as opposed to firmly held moral, philosophical and religious beliefs, to support the establishment of the duty she would impose on all physicians."Ed Barocas, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief, welcomed the ruling. "Today’s victory sends a message that New Jersey will not tolerate backdoor efforts to curtail reproductive rights or free speech," he said. "We will not allow the anti-choice lobby to force its moral or theological beliefs upon others."
I love good news on a Friday.
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I cannot believe they were making them say that
Wonderful!
NJ seems like the most progressive state in the nation!
I kinda love my state. :)
I am so proud to be from NJ. W00t!
Right the fuck on.
Nice one. It's exactly that: it is not the duty of medical staff to impose moral views, beliefs, or opinions on patients seeking medical care. I can't believe some states try to put laws into place telling medical staff that they must do just that.
String_Bean_Jen, now only if we could get all doctors and pharmacists to agree to that!
Funny, I don't think "separate" would be an accurate description anyway. If the fetus was separate there'd be no need to forcibly remove it from the woman's uterus, right?
Sara no H.: It seems sort of inaccurate to say it's 'complete' for the same reason - generally speaking, when they're done, they come out!
Gotta love the way the plaintiff captioned this case:
The Estate of a seven-week embryo. Um, OK. What assets was she administering? The placenta?
The decision in full text
Roxie -- New Jersey was not making doctors say that ridiculous line. A woman felt that her doctor ought to have said that to her before she had her abortion, since she claims she didn't understand it was a "baby."
Man, am I glad I moved from New Jersey to South Dakota! To have gone from "New Jersey will not tolerate backdoor efforts to curtail reproductive rights or free speech" to "hey, let's ban abortion!" is just too much fun for me. [/sarcasm]
...I really should think about moving back to NJ. They also have better pizza.
I can't stand when people use the word "infant" when talking about an embryo. Infancy is a stage of human development starting at BIRTH. Are we going to start calling fetuses "toddlers?"
I think this entire lawsuit wouldn't have been filed if medical professionals used medically accurate terms when talking to their patients. Women aren't too stupid to understand embryos and fetuses.
unfortunatly FEMily!, that was what she was arguing. That she didn't understand that "fetus" (or at that stage, embryo) meant "future baby".
I'm glad the NJSC called bullshit on that.
Frankly, if she's to be believed, Rose Acuna is too stupid to raise children. I find it impossible to believe that a 29-year old who'd already given birth twice didn't understand what "pregnant" meant.
She also had a miscarriage, so I don't know how she couldn't understand what an abortion (spontaneous or induced) is or looks like.
Wow, how awesome! I'm so happy to hear that in the midsts of some screwed up backlash against reproductive rights that there is at least one state that won't put up with it. Now if only MY state would do that (And they can start by NOT banning EC like they're trying to do now. I'm continuing to hold my breath on this one, but I can still dream.)
At the very least, the first two are BS, and the latter two are just weasel words.
Just because you're unique and irreplaceable doesn't mean you're useful...
Just because you're unique and irreplaceable doesn't mean you're useful...
I think that's the most awesome thing I've read all week.
Wish we had those type of judges everywhere the United States.
I'm glad that the Jersey girls can't be subjected to the anti-choice propaganda.
"I can't stand when people use the word "infant" when talking about an embryo. Infancy is a stage of human development starting at BIRTH. Are we going to start calling fetuses 'toddlers'"
I've seen on-campus flyers calling them "women."