CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, (866) FRC-NEWS or (866)-372-6397
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this week, the Family Research Council (FRC) filed an amicus curiae (“friend-of-the-court”) brief with the entire Kansas Court of Appeals (fourteen judges). The case involves a challenge to Kansas Senate Bill 95, which prohibits the performance of dismemberment abortions, called dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortions, on live, unborn children.
Arina Grossu, Director of FRC’s Center for Human Dignity, released the following statement:
“The dismemberment of a live, unborn child is a barbaric procedure which we, as a civilized society, cannot tolerate. Nothing in the Kansas Constitution requires the State of Kansas to allow such procedures to be performed.
“FRC’s brief presents two arguments: First, that Kansas courts are not required to recognize a state constitutional right to abortion merely because the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized a federal constitutional right to abortion; and, second, that there is no basis in the text, history or interpretation of the Kansas Constitution for recognizing such a right. The framers of the Kansas Constitution clearly did not intend to create a right to abortion when the state constitution was adopted in 1859,” concluded Grossu.
The Court of Appeals will hear the case on December 9th. The case is on an expedited briefing and hearing schedule. A decision should be handed down sometime during the winter.
Paul Linton, an Illinois-based constitutional appellate attorney with expert knowledge of abortion law, authored the amicus brief. Kevin M. Smith of Wichita served as local counsel.
To read the brief, please see: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF15J63.pdf
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