Supreme top court allows abortion for Missouri inmate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court under new
Chief Justice John Roberts cleared the way on Monday for a
pregnant Missouri prisoner to obtain an abortion, despite
objections from state officials.

In a brief order without comment or recorded dissent, the
high court rejected Missouri’s request to put on hold a federal
judge’s order requiring that prison authorities transport the
inmate to a St. Louis clinic for an abortion.

How Roberts would rule on abortion was a major issue in his
confirmation hearings in the Senate. This was the first
abortion-related case the court has acted upon since he became
chief justice, but since there was no written ruling it does
not necessarily signify how he would vote on the issue in
future cases.

Officials said Missouri has a prison policy that female
prisoners will be sent out of their institutions for abortions
only if the procedure is medically necessary.

They cited Missouri’s laws that they said discourage
abortions and encourage childbirth. They said any time an
inmate is transported outside of a prison it raises possible
security issues.

Even if there is some infringement of the prisoner’s
constitutional rights to choose an abortion, “a prison
regulation may validly impinge on such rights if the regulation
is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests,”
state officials argued.

According to the court record in the case, the woman,
identified only by the pseudonym “Jane Roe,” is approximately
16 or 17 weeks pregnant. Her attorneys said that for seven
weeks prison officials have prohibited her from obtaining an
abortion.

Talcott Camp, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties
Union, which is representing the inmate, said in a statement
that women do not give up the right to terminate a pregnancy
when they enter prison.

“The state’s actions in this case were contrary to
Missouri’s own long-standing policy when it comes to inmates’
access to reproductive healthcare, in addition to policies in
the federal prison system and all the state prison systems we
know of,” Camp said.

Gov. Matt Blunt expressed disappointment and said the high
court’s order “is highly offensive to traditional Missouri
values and is contrary to state law, which prohibits taxpayer
dollars from being spent to facilitate abortions.”