This week, Alabama laid a foundational precedent that starkly undermines Roe v. Wade. In a unanimous decision, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that a mother may pursue a wrongful death claim on behalf of her pre-viable unborn child and provided a solid rejection of Roe‘s so-called “viability” argument, which claims that life is only valuable if able to survive outside of the womb.
In the Alabama Supreme Court case Hamilton v. Scott, the justices ruled in favor of Amy Hamilton, who argued that a doctor’s negligence resulted in the death of her unborn baby. Fox News reported that beginning in early January 2005, Hamilton sought an ultrasound to monitor her baby after she contracted human parvovirus, an infection known to cause serious health risks for pregnant women. When the ultrasound was finally administered in late February, it revealed the baby had developed life-threatening complications. Sadly, two weeks later, Hamilton’s son was stillborn.
This ruling has major implications for the pro-life movement. First, it clearly mirrors the growing sentiments of a majority of Americans who are pro-life, especially our younger generation. Second, Alabama has set a clear precedent that more states are expected to emulate. Finally, as state laws continue to represent Americans’ growing pro-life attitude, the U.S. Supreme Court will be called upon to reconsider and, ultimately, repeal Roe.
Unveiling the deception of Roe shouldn’t be a difficult task. Mario Diaz, Esq., Legal Counsel for Concerned Women for America, explains, “Legally speaking, Roe v. Wade is simply indefensible. It rests on the false premise that the ‘fetus’ is not a ‘person’ because the Justices say so. The scientific bases for that claim simply were not there in 1973, and they are not there now. In fact, Justice Blackmun acknowledged that ‘[i]f this suggestion of personhood is established, [Roe‘s] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [Fourteenth] Amendment.’ Advances in science have been proving just that: we are dealing with a baby, not a blob of tissue as some conveniently tried to tell us. This decision by the Alabama Supreme Court is another indication that Roe‘s house of cards is slowly tumbling down.”
Pro-life conservatives can only hope that the Supreme Court revisits the abortion question sooner rather than later. With a few more decisions like the one in Alabama, we may just hold the legal trump card when that time comes.