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| Appeals court upholds denial of inmate's abortion |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/10/2004 |
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Because a prisoner's wish to abort a child was not "medically necessary," medical workers at a Louisiana jail did not violate her civil rights by preventing her from having an abortion, a federal appellate court has ruled. In its opinion last Friday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the prison's policy of requiring a court order for elective medical procedures was reasonable. "It is undisputed that the abortion was not medically necessary," the court wrote. This was also the first time an inmate had requested an abortion, meaning the prison could not have had an official - and unconstitutional - policy to deny abortions to inmates, the court held. William Rittenberg, the plaintiff's attorney, declined to say whether his client would appeal. He said the U.S. Supreme Court has not previously ruled on a similar case. Danna Schwab, a lawyer for the jail's medical department, said the jail gave the woman the option of seeking a court order to get an abortion. The woman, known only as Victoria W. in court documents, told medical staff at the Terrebonne Parish Jail in Houma that she wanted an abortion. She learned of her pregnancy upon her incarceration after her probation was revoked in 1999. Officials told her she would have to hire a lawyer and obtain a court order to undergo the procedure because she would have to be transported to New Orleans, the nearest city with an abortion clinic. Louisiana law prohibits state funds from being used for an abortion, but Victoria W. offered to pay for the procedure and transportation herself, according to her attorneys. She contacted a lawyer, who filed a motion seeking her early release instead of permission for Victoria W. to be released temporarily so she could undergo the procedure. The early release order would have required the inmate to pay $1,500 for a doctor's evaluation, and Victoria W. told her attorney she could not afford it, according to the ruling. She was released on Oct. 13, 1999, too late to obtain a legal abortion in Louisiana. Victoria W. carried the baby to term and placed it with adoptive parents. Rittenberg said that because of the jail's stance the woman was forced to have a cesarean section to give birth. He said it was unjust to allow prisoners to undergo other medical procedures but not abortions. The woman appealed to the 5th Circuit after a federal district judge threw out her case in April 2002 before it came to trial. The appeals court judges were Patrick E. Higginbotham, Edward Charles Prado and Carl E. Stewart. |
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