JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMOX) - Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt wants the Supreme Court of the United States to review Missouri’s law prohibiting abortions of unborn children with Down syndrome. The petition filed Thursday says it's a "critically important case."
Schmitt, who has a son with Down syndrome, hopes the Supreme Court will resolve a circuit split on laws outlawing abortions based solely on a pre-natal diagnosis of Down syndrome, and asking the Court to reverse decisions of the lower courts holding that such provisions are “categorically unconstitutional.”
“My son Stephen has shown me the inherent beauty in life, and he brings immense joy and love to his loved ones and those around him. Since taking office, I’ve fought to protect all life, including the unborn. A pre-natal diagnosis of Down syndrome should not be a death sentence,” Schmitt stated in a press release. “It’s my hope that the Supreme Court will grant our petition for writ of certiorari and hear this critically important case.”
The petition, which you can read here, asks the court to review three main questions:
• Whether Missouri’s restriction on abortions performed solely because the unborn child may have Down syndrome is categorically invalid under Casey and Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), or whether it is a valid, reasonable regulation of abortion that seeks to prevent the elimination of children with Down syndrome through eugenic abortion?
• Whether Missouri’s restrictions on abortions performed after eight, fourteen, eighteen, and twenty weeks’ gestational age are categorically invalid, or whether they are valid, reasonable regulations of abortion that advance important state interests?
• Whether the “penumbral” right to abortion recognized in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), and partially reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992), should be overruled?
Missouri is one of 12 states that have laws restricting these types of abortions, according to the petition.
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