Sunday, October 24, 2004
Justice . . .
The US Supreme Court has denied the request of three plaintiffs to hear their case against Planned Parenthood, in which the California women accuse the abortion provider of refusing to educate women about the link between abortion and breast cancer.
The original lawsuit was launched in August 2001 by Agnes Bernardo, Pamela Colip, and Sandra Duffy-Hawkins. The women wanted Planned Parenthood to begin providing women with accurate information about the evidence that abortion raises breast cancer risk; they were not suing for monetary damages.
The Supreme Court dismissed the case, upholding an earlier decision by the California Supreme Court, which ordered the women to pay legal fees in excess of $77,000.
"Twenty-eight out of 37 studies published since 1957 have associated this elective surgical procedure with breast cancer," Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, said following the launch of the suit in 2001. "Women have a right to make fully informed decisions concerning their own health. If women are denied crucial information about the risks of a procedure, can it really be said that a choice ever belonged to them?"
"Accurate information about the research has been censored by Planned Parenthood and its supporters since abortion was legalized in the US nearly three decades ago," Malec now charges. "It was censored by the same people who ardently professed that they cared about women's health. Planned Parenthood's greed will cost women their lives and devastate families. This is a travesty of justice."
The original lawsuit was launched in August 2001 by Agnes Bernardo, Pamela Colip, and Sandra Duffy-Hawkins. The women wanted Planned Parenthood to begin providing women with accurate information about the evidence that abortion raises breast cancer risk; they were not suing for monetary damages.
The Supreme Court dismissed the case, upholding an earlier decision by the California Supreme Court, which ordered the women to pay legal fees in excess of $77,000.
"Twenty-eight out of 37 studies published since 1957 have associated this elective surgical procedure with breast cancer," Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, said following the launch of the suit in 2001. "Women have a right to make fully informed decisions concerning their own health. If women are denied crucial information about the risks of a procedure, can it really be said that a choice ever belonged to them?"
"Accurate information about the research has been censored by Planned Parenthood and its supporters since abortion was legalized in the US nearly three decades ago," Malec now charges. "It was censored by the same people who ardently professed that they cared about women's health. Planned Parenthood's greed will cost women their lives and devastate families. This is a travesty of justice."
