In a decision Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court questioned the fetus viability standards set out by the United States Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. The decision was written by Justice Tom Parker, and Justices Alica Kelly Wise, Mike Bolin, Lyn Stuart concurred with the opinion.
In 2006 plaintiff Amy Hamilton sued Dr. Warren Scott and the Isbell Medical Group claiming that their negligence had caused the wrongful death of her unborn son. Hamilton had suffered from “fifths disease” and the flu, causing her unborn child to die. Lower courts agreed with defendants that a wrongful death claim could not apply to a non-viable fetus, an unborn baby that could not survive outside the womb.
In its decision Friday, the state Supreme Court disagreed and remanded the case back to the lower court.
In his concurrent opinion, Justice Parker attacked the fetus viability standard established by Roe v. Wade. Alabama’s wrongful death statute applied to a fetus, regardless of viability, Parker said.
Roe’s viability rule was based on inaccurate history and was mostly unsupported by legal precedent. Medical advances since Roe have conclusively demonstrated that an unborn child is a unique human being at every stage of development. And together, Alabama’s homicide statute, the decisions of this Court, and the statutes and judicial decisions from other states make abundantly clear that the law is no longer, in Justice Blackmun’s words, “reluctant … to accord legal rights to the unborn.” For these reasons, Roe’s viability rule is neither controlling nor persuasive here and should be rejected by other states until the day it is overruled by the United States Supreme Court.
When Richard Scrushy donated $500,000 to Gov. Don Siegelman’s lottery campaign, he clearly wanted a seat for HealthSouth on the state certificate of needs board. But is that a bribe? Must a quid pro quo be spoken out loud or merely understood?
Having gotten little truck in the lower courts, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman has appealed his 2006 conviction on federal bribery charges to the United States Supreme Court. Siegelman is challenging whether and when a campaign contribution can be considered a bribe.
Jefferson County’s bankruptcy filing could come down to a distinction between a bond and a warrant, and maybe even the grammar of the Alabama Legislature.
PAC-to-PAC is back… Sort of. The state’s oldest black political group challenged the law and won a narrow victory in federal court.
Former Jefferson County Commissioner John Katopodis had appealed to the United States Supreme Court to overturn his conviction on federal mail and wire fraud charges.
Judge Myron Thompson could choose to throw out some charges in the bingo corruption case as early as tomorrow morning, when the defense is expected to present their case to the jury.
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb will step down in August, two years before the end of her term. Cobb announced her decision at the state judicial building in Montgomery Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, the Alabama House will consider a bill that would define a fetus as a person, effectively criminalizing abortions. Democrats blasted the bill as a waste of tax dollars on legal fees. The bill’s sponsors and supporters say they hope it leads to overturning Roe v. Wade.
Ethics reform bills are sailing through the Alabama House. The Senate is a different story. A Democratic filibuster briefly stalled a bill to end state payroll witholdings for political entities such as AEA, and a substitute bill by Sen. Scott Beason would prohibit lobbyists from spending on legislators but would leave their clients untouched.
U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler structured former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford’s 15-year sentence to isolate honest-service fraud counts from other charges.
