Abortion ruling should guide state lawmakers

Deo gratias: Thanks be to God.

On April 18, 2014, in an unprecedented and landmark decision, the Alabama Supreme Court in an 8 to 1 vote in the case of Sarah Janie Hicks vs. State of Alabama, held that the “unborn child has an inalienable right to life from its earliest stages of development.”

Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore stated the unborn child is a person from the moment of conception and therefore has an inalienable right to life from its earliest stages of development. In his separate but concurring opinion, Alabama Chief Justice Moore added, “I write separately to emphasize that the inalienable right to life is a Gift of God that civil government must secure for all persons — born and unborn.” Deo gratias.

Here in Montana, under the leadership of Dr. Annie Bukacek of Kalispell, we worked for years to try to get a Personhood Amendment to our Montana Constitution. Our efforts were thwarted by certain religious leaders. I would suggest to our Montana Legislature that based on Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore’s holding stated above, that our elected legislators should enact a law that would declare the unborn child to be a person who has the unalienable right to life from the moment of conception.

Also, I thank God that in this world of ours, where every time your hear the news it seems like “the world is going mad,” that there are, in a high place of position, at least eight God-fearing and believing persons who believe in the sanctity of life. Deo gratias.

Suzanne Brooks, Whitefish