Pro-life medical groups appeal to higher court to protect their right of conscience
California challenge to Weldon Amendment goes to 9th CircuitSAN FRANCISCO - Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and the Christian Legal Society filed a brief today with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to support their appeal of a lower court's decision that denied California healthcare professionals the opportunity to intervene in a case affecting their right to refuse to provide abortions and abortion referrals.
"The government shouldn't force pro-life medical professionals to participate in abortions against their conscience. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the state of California wants to do by pursuing this lawsuit," said Casey Mattox, litigation counsel with the CLS Center for Law & Religious Freedom.
ADF and CLS filed the motion to intervene in June on behalf of members of the Christian Medical Association, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Fellowship of Christian Physicians Assistants in the case State of California v. United States of America. The three groups are asking the court to allow them to enter the case as defendants in order to adequately protect their members' interests by defending the constitutionality of the Weldon Amendment.
Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the "Weldon Amendment" in December 2004. The statute forbids state and local governments that receive federal funds from discriminating against healthcare providers because they refuse to perform or refer patients for abortions.
"The Weldon Amendment is a critical protection of healthcare professionals' rights of conscience, and we hope that the 9th Circuit will allow these same medical professionals to defend the statute against California's challenge," Mattox explained.
Bill Lockyer, the attorney general of California, filed suit against the U.S. government in January, claiming the Weldon Amendment is unconstitutional because it prevents the state from applying its own laws requiring healthcare professionals to provide abortions in some cases. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. The brief can be read at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/CAvUS-MTIappeal.pdf.
Together, ADF, America's largest legal alliance, and CLS, America's premier membership organization of Christian legal professionals, defend religious liberty, human life, marriage, and the family.
