ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov 24 (LSN) - Valley Hospital, near Anchorage, Alaska has been ordered to commit abortions by the Alaska Supreme Court. In an unprecedented ruling, the justices decided unanimously to force abortions on the hospital despite the rejection of the practice in 1992 by the hospital board. James Bopp, an Indiana-based attorney for the hospital, said the court decision set a precedent. ``The Alaska Supreme Court has made a decision that’s unprecedented in the United States, which is to interpret the Alaska constitution to create a coercive right to abortion,’’ Bopp told the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Justice Allen Compton, in writing the decision, noted that the hospital is considered a “quasi-public” institution because it was built with state and other public funds, it uses public funds to operate, and it is the only hospital serving its region.