NEW YORK, April 22, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - U.S. District Judge Richard C. Casey fined New York-Presbyterian Hospital for contempt of court late Tuesday for failing to provide medical charts of women who had procured partial-birth abortions.
The medical files, necessary for the continuation of the partial-birth abortion ban challenge, were subpoenaed by the Department of Justice earlier this year, and subsequently challenged by the hospital. In March, Judge Casey ordered the hospital to release the records.
The refusal of the hospital is another road-block being thrown in the way of the DOJ’s efforts to prove the procedure is never medically necessary. The constitutionality of the partial-birth abortion ban, signed into law November by U.S. President George W. Bush, has been challenged by seven Planned Parenthood abortionists and the National Abortion Federation. They are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. The group contends that the grisly procedure, which dismembers a late-term baby in the process of being partially delivered, is sometimes necessary for the health of expectant mothers. Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage “Federal Judge Orders New York Hospital to Release Partial-Birth Abortion Records,” at: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/mar/04032206.html “Medical Experts Testify Partial-Birth Abortion Never Medically Necessary,” at: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04041605.html