Alabama rules that an unborn baby is a person
Precious Life welcome the news that the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that an unborn baby is a person. This is following the decision that a wrongful death lawsuit, brought by a woman who claims her doctor caused her to have a miscarriage by administering an abortion-inducing drug, can proceed.
The claimant, Kimberly Stinnett, put to the court that her usual doctor was not present the day of her appointment. Karla Kennedy, the doctor who was filling in that day, believed that Stinnett had an ectopic pregnancy since she had had one previously. Thus, Kennedy decided to administer methotrexate, a drug that, as the court noted, is “intended to cause the end of the pregnancy.”
However, when Stinnett’s usual doctor, William Huggins, examined her via ultrasound, he found that Stinnett did not have an ectopic pregnancy after all, but instead had a normal intrauterine pregnancy. However, due to the methotrexate, Stinnett’s unborn baby was now tragically likely to die.
A few weeks later Stinnett sadly suffered a miscarriage. She then took her case against Kennedy to court, alleging that the doctor had unnecessarily ended a viable pregnancy. The initial court dismissed the case, but when Stinnett appealed her case to the Alabama Supreme Court, it was ruled that her case stands and must be heard in the lower court.
The judgment of the court has significant implications for the pro-life movement since they based their decision on the belief that Kennedy had possibly contributed to a homicide - meaning that Stinnett’s unborn baby was recognised as person under law.
Judge Thomas Parker wrote, “The use of the viability standard established in Roe [Roe v. Wade] is incoherent as it relates to wrongful-death law because, among other reasons, life begins at the moment of conception. The fact that life begins at conception is beyond refutation.”
Parker went on to say, “Members of the judicial branch of Alabama should do all within their power to dutifully ensure that the laws of Alabama are applied equally to protect the most vulnerable members of our society, both born and unborn.”
The USA are slowly but surely changing - this pro-life generation is called and equipped to abolish abortion! As well as Alabama, there are 12 other states in the USA that define unborn babies as persons. These include Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
Thankfully in Northern Ireland, our laws recognise an unborn baby as a person. We pray that our life-saving laws will continue to safeguard women and every unborn baby regardless of predicted lifespan, circumstances of conception, stage of development, gender, race or disability - recognised as a person under our laws in Northern Ireland.
If you would like to help us in this crucial please contact us on 028 9027 8484 or info@preciouslife.com.