Alabama clinic calls judge's bluff after he allowed a man to sue on behalf of aborted embryo

[babylonsister]

Alabama clinic calls judge’s bluff after he allowed a man to sue on behalf of aborted embryo
If abortion is legal, then why is this lawsuit going through?
Amanda Michelle Gomez
Apr 2, 2019, 4:49 pm


The Alabama abortion clinic being sued by a man who wishes his ex-girlfriend didn’t get an abortion at six weeks is reminding the judge hearing the case that Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land.

Ryan Magers filed a wrongful death lawsuit in February against the Alabama Women’s Center, where he says his girlfriend went for abortion care, and the pharmaceutical company that developed the medication she used. Madison County Probate Judge Frank Barger, who was just elected in November, allowed Magers to become the legal representative for the aborted embryo, which is referred to as “Baby Roe” in legal filings — a misnomer, as it’s not even a fetus at six weeks, much less a baby in the way that’s commonly understood.

Instead of responding to the lawsuit, the clinic told the judge Monday evening to dismiss the case entirely because Supreme Court precedent still protects the constitutional right to abortion. The highest federal court maintains that right belongs to the pregnant person alone — even if someone else in their life disagrees with that decision. In 1988, for example, the Supreme Court refused to take up Conn v. Conn, a failed case where a man sued his wife to prevent her from getting an abortion.

So if abortion is legal, how can it be wrongful, as Magers claims?

Alabama law “only authorizes a wrongful death cause of action for criminal, tortuous, or otherwise unlawful conduct,” the clinic’s legal filing notes.

The clinic claims Magers is “circumvent[ing] the doors of justice” and holding it “civilly liable for conduct that the United States Constitution and the Alabama Legislature have deemed lawful.” It isn’t exaggerating.

“This kind of thing is clearly a bid to change the law,” said Mary Ziegler, a professor at Florida State University College of Law who specializes in the legal history of reproductive rights. “There’s no real, plausible argument that there’s room for this in constitutional law as it currently stands.”

more...

https://thinkprogress.org/alabama-abortion-clinic-response-judge-allow-man-ryan-magers-to-sue-on-behalf-of-aborted-embryo-d479a08b8a3f/

[luvtheGWN]

1. It's time these judges (and legislators) learned about actual life and death.

An embryo, or a fetus, is not "alive", it is the equivalent of a parasite which can only develop into a potential human being inside its mother. So there can be no "wrongful death" of something which is not alive.

What would the courts do if they were confronted with potential this or thats? As in: I'm going to sue the lottery corporation because when I purchased a ticket, I had the "potential" of winning. Or: I'm going to sue XYZ Corporation because when they interviewed me, I had the potential of being hired.

And for all those Bible-thumping judges, pastors and abortion-clinic protestors, perhaps they should remember that their bible clearly states that life begins at first breath, and ends at last breath.

[volstork]

5. Another point to consider:

Approximately 60-70% of all fertilizations fail; the fertilized egg fails to implant. If "life begins at conception" as so many claim, that's a hell of a lot of deaths to contend with...

[calimary]

2. Gotta hand it to 'em. They don't quit.

They’re hellbent on enforced birth - in the most private, personal, and intimate circumstances in a woman’s life.

Forcible entry into a woman’s private parts against her will is a kind of rape, seems to me.

In Catholic school I was taught that God gave us free will. How come CONservatives don’t think they have to comply with that? If it’s good enough for the Almighty...

[Marthe48]

4. Institutional rape

Everything from forced carry to term to induced labor, so the dr. can deliver your baby at his/her convenience.
And other examples of coercion based on sex that aren't medical.

As long as women, ethnicities, entire countries and continents are held down or held back, the human race is living with one hand tied behind its back. And look who benefits with this unfair system? Rich men. Rich women need to stay low, or they get punished.

[jmowreader]

3. Can Magers' ex-girlfriend sue on 14th Amendment grounds?

It seems like he was trying to force her to carry his child to term against her will, which sounds like “involuntary servitude” to me.

[Mariana]

7. That isn't what happened.

She did, in fact, obtain an abortion. As far as I know, he didn't attempt to forcibly prevent her from doing it. He sued the clinic after the abortion.

[TygrBright]

6. Editors: Learn the (important!) difference b/t "tortious" and "tortuous", plz. ::sigh:: n/t