Inmate Entitled to Abortion
Posted on Fri Oct 14, 2005 at 10:38:42 AM EST
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by TChris
A federal court has recognized that prisons can’t prevent a female inmate from exercising her constitutional right to an abortion, even if the state adopts a rule that prohibits the expenditure of state funds to transport the woman to a hospital for that purpose. The ruling only makes sense, given the captive woman’s inability to drive herself to the hospital.
"The law is now well established that federal courts have declared that a woman has a constitutional right to choose to terminate a pregnancy rather than carry the pregnancy to term," Chief District Judge Dean Whipple wrote in an order filed in federal court for Western Missouri. "It is also clearly established that these rights of the woman survive incarceration."
(via How Appealing)