On Monday, the federal appeals court restored an Indiana law that requires abortionists and medical providers to bury or cremate the remains of aborted children. The original decision in 2016 found that the law violated the First Amendment for anyone who does not believe unborn babies have any rights at all. But Judge Frank Easterbrook of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals called the ruling unfounded.
Easterbrook found that the cremate or bury directive applies only to hospitals and clinics. Therefore, it does not require women to violate a religious or secular belief. “Before enactment of these statutes, it had been common for medical providers to place fetal remains in the garbage (‘medical waste’),” Easterbrook wrote in the court’s decision. “Dogs, Cats, and other pets may be cremated or buried, sometimes due to the legal requirement not to put animals’ bodies in the garbage,” added the judge.
Yesterday, #SCOTUS upheld a law that would require babies aborted in Indiana be given a respectful burial. If this law had been passed in every state when Roe was handed down, it would take 12,584 football fields to bury all 60+ million babies that have been aborted since then. pic.twitter.com/IYVSQlPP5y
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) May 29, 2019
The fact that we live in an age where this is an argument is ludicrous. The only reason women who get an abortion don’t want to cremate or bury their child is guilt and shame. This is a society where dogs get more respect than human life. Further, to argue that the doctor must throw an unborn baby in the trash is despicable in the first place.
In 2020, the Women’s Med Group abortion clinic in Indianapolis brought this lawsuit along with two nurse practitioners and three other women. The suit argued that Indiana’s requirements were too strict and made women “feel bad.” In the filings, they wrote that the state’s requirements “send the unmistakable message that someone who has had an abortion or miscarriage is responsible for the death of a person.”
Most pro-life people aren’t out rubbing miscarriages of women in anyone’s face. Miscarriages are clear biological tragedies. But women who have an abortion are responsible for a person’s death because it is an intentional and willful act to end a life.
“If the statute reflects anyone’s view about fetal personhood, it is the view of the State of Indiana,” said Judge Easterbrook in the ruling. Luckily,` states are entitled to express and act on their views on subjects like this. If not, every man and woman could get away with even more insidious lawsuits.
