Murder in the United States

Murder in the United States

Lately I've noticed an increase of child murders in the news. They're horrific reminders to us that human beings can actually be capable of murdering defenseless children. Unfortunately, many more brutal child killings take place every day in this country than we hear in the news.

Five years ago, five unelected, lifetime-appointed Supreme Court justices decided that our Constitution now says that this country will allow the gruesome killing of babies, as long as the killing takes place before the baby can take her first breath, before she lets out her first cry. These five justices decided that any time, up until a baby is completely born, if an abortionist claims a health benefit to this gruesome procedure, no one can stop the forced delivery and brutal killing of this newborn.

In the five years since that decision, Congress held hearing after hearing and listened to doctor after doctor, who testified that partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary to protect a woman's health. Based on the highest standard of findings on earth, Congress passed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003.

Last week, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Iowa, ruled in Carhart v. Gonzales to ignore all evidence that comes before Congress and to disregard Congressional findings themselves. That court upheld the make-shift Constitutional amendment set in place by the Supreme Court five years ago.

This decision will most likely be appealed to the Supreme Court. However, the last time the Court heard a case on this topic, in that case five years ago, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the swing vote that legalized the gruesome procedure of partial birth abortion. Without a doubt, O'Connor's replacement will be crucial to uphold the partial birth abortion ban, an act which is entirely within the boundaries established by the Constitution.

Rejecting Congressional findings and testimonies out of hand, and short circuiting Constitutional procedure for amending the Constitution, the Supreme Court and the inferior courts are imposing their moral values--or lack of them-- on the people who never had a chance to judge them, while enjoining all legislatures in the land from legislating on issues of importance to the people they represent.

We often criticize brutal tyrannies for the treatment of their citizens. The United States courts refuse to be bound by the plain meaning of our laws and Constitution. Judges all take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. The same judges, and Supreme Court Justices in particular, are the last people who should be amending the Constitution - not the first.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ia05_king/pr_050714m.html