Federal appeals court upholds Weldon Amendment
Cross Posted from Revealing the ACLU: The Weldon Amendment, also knows as the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act is a 2004 law which stops federal, state and local governments and agencies from discriminating against heath care providers who choose not to offer abortion services, including coverage or referral services. The Weldon Amendment was a response to local laws which were requiring health care organizations to provide abortion services despite ethical, moral, or religions beliefs.
Naturally the ACLU, NFPRHA and Planed Parenthood jumped all over the Amendment, and took it to court.
I am glad to report, they lost.
From the Alliance Defense Fund:
A federal appeals court today upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a pro-abortion group challenging the “Weldon Amendment.” The Weldon Amendment is a federal statute that prohibits the federal government or state and local governments receiving certain federal aid from discriminating against medical professionals who refuse to perform or refer for abortions.
“Doctors and nurses should not be forced to participate in abortions against their religious beliefs or conscience. Under the banner of ‘choice,’ the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association asserted a supposed right to do this, but the court didn’t buy it,” said Casey Mattox, litigation counsel for CLS’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom. “This decision turns back the effort to enshrine abortion as a right above even the First Amendment.”
NFPRHA challenged the Weldon Amendment just days after it was first signed into law in December 2005. After a federal district court upheld the law, NFPRHA appealed, arguing that the Weldon Amendment was too vague to enforce and that their member organizations had a constitutional right to force medical professionals to provide abortion referrals.
Once again we see how freedom is, in the opinion of organizations like the ACLU, Planed Parenthood, and NFPRHA, a one way street.
I am sure this challenge will go further.
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