Posted on 02/05/2005 7:55:34 AM PST by gopwinsin04
A frozen embryo destroyed in a Chicago fertility clinic was a human being whose parents are entitled to file a wrongful death lawsuit, a Cook County judge rules Friday.
Attorneys on both sides of the abortion issue said it was the first such ruling they have heard of as the country debates whether stem cells derived from embryos can be used in research and medicine.
Alison Miller and Todd Parrish hoped to conceive a child with help from the Center of Human Reproduction, but the one fertilized egg the couple created was thrown out in error by a clinic worker.
Friday, Judge Jeffrey Lawrence II said 'a pre-embryo is a human being..whether or not it is impanted in its mother's womb' and the couple is entitled to seek the same compensation awarded to other parents whose children are killed. 'Philisophers and theologians may debate,' he wrote, but there is no doubt in the mind of the Illinois legislature when life begins. It begins at conception.'
Coleen Connell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Chicago, said she expected the ruling would be overturned on appeal.
James Costello, who represented the couple said the clinic workers negligence was now at issue goven the ruling. 'The embryo had a unique set of DNA not unlike a child and was just thrown out like a piece of garbage,' he said.
Pro Life Action Leage director Joe Scheidler praised the ruling. 'That is scientifically correct. Life begins at fertilization, not implantation.'
Northwestern Law Professor Dorothy Roberts warned that the ruling may have 'scary' and 'dangerous' implications for the law.
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
Absadamnlutely!
Passing it on..
From the persepctive of most Jews destruction of an embryo wouldn’t be fall under prohibitions relating to abortion. Since an in-vitro embryo cannot develop or survive without implantation into the mother, it doesn’t enjoy the protections of a potential human.
Wow, this just blows my mind.
Wonderful news!!!
Post 44 is for you, too.
Is this the first time a court has done this??
Between this and the unborn child protection act, the clear schizophrenia about the humanity of the fetus with respect to the law only grows louder and louder.
-- Joe
Glory hallelujah! Thanks for the ping!
LOL-- Now if only Judge Jeffrey Lawrence II could sit down the six stooges on SCOTUS who embrace Roe and read them the riot act! Hopefully this Judge will be tapped by President Bush.
---------------------------------------------
In a 1-14-05 article from Susan Wills, Esq., associate director for education, Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:
And no one seriously suggests that Roe be protected because of its legal merit. Since 1973, six Supreme Court justices and scores of legal articles have criticized Roe and Doe for inventing a right to abortion not found in the Constitution and for usurping the right of states and the people to fashion laws that reflect their views on abortion. As a distinguished law professor, Michael S. Paulsen, put it: “Roe is an embarrassment—perhaps the worst work-product the Court has ever produced. … Roe’s reasoning is utterly laughable, a running joke in constitutional law circles.”
http://www.nccbuscc.org/prolife/publicat/lifeissues/011405.htm
It's about time!
-good times, G.J.P.(Jr.)
=== This one passed the all-important "Planned and Wanted" test. It's never been about the fetus.
Hear hear.
Though you might reconsider your tagline in light of the fact abortion, indeed, is a GOP policy.
=== If, on the other hand, they are committed Pro-Life people
How can you even surmise such a thing for a second about folks who would patronize a fertility clinic ... as if "God's will" were something to be overcome by technology.
=== There is a small problem here; the Talmud is one of the reference documents that anchors American Jurisprudence.
God help us.
=== And the Talmud states categorically that a human life is not human at conception, nor for many days thereafter.
So the Talmud trumps science somehow?
Just another indication that the "Judeo-Christian" movement espoused by so many useful Idiot evangilicals is heinous.
For some reason, I'm picturing Dr. Nick Riviera right about now.
(Prolonged eye roll.)
-good times, G.J.P.(Jr.)
I almost became a surrogate mother a few years ago for one of my clients. If my mother didn't threaten to disown me, I would have done it.
She is married now. At the time she and her boyfriend weren't but she was in a real hurry and desperate. I felt sorry for her.
At least she had some intelligent, thoughtful people looking out for her best interests.
:0)
I think she is going to adopt. Whatever happens to the eggs, only God knows.
It is really quite amazing. Judge Lawrence has to be one in a million. It would be a good idea to send him some letters and phone calls of support.
Agreed. That judge is a keeper..
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