4th Circuit upholds Partial Birth Abortion Ban

Delegate Marshall noted, 'The most fundamental purpose of government is to protect human lives.'

RICHMOND, Va. -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled Wednesday to uphold Del. Bob Marshall's 2003 Partial Birth Infanticide abortion ban today. Marshall (R-Prince William-Loudoun) introduced his law, HB 1541, in 2003.

Delegate Marshall noted, "The most fundamental purpose of government is to protect human lives. The court did that here."

Marshall added, "It is telling that it was Virginia's Thomas Jefferson, who criticized abortion in his Notes on Virginia, and who affirmed in the Declaration of Independence that the first natural right of persons is the right to life which comes directly from God, when he wrote that, 'all men are created equal,' and that Jefferson didn't say all men are born equal for a reason."

Delegate Marshall said he read previous court decisions and other statutes before he crafted HB 1541. "I wanted a law that upheld the right to life of children near birth, would expand the legal protections previously denied such children by other federal court decisions, and which would be constitutional."

Noting his goals were affirmed in the decision, Marshall commended Judge J. Harvie Wilkerson for his concurring opinion: "The fact is that we--civilized people--are retreating to the haven of our Constitution to justify dismembering a partly born child and crushing its skull. Surely centuries hence, people will look back on this gruesome practice done in the name of fundamental law by a society of high achievement. And they will shudder."

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