On Moral Grounds

NYT reported A pregnant teenager went to the grand and imposing county courthouse here early in the summer, saying she wanted an abortion. The circuit court judge refused to hear the case, and he announced that he would recuse himself from any others like it. "Taking the life of an innocent human being is contrary to the moral order," the judge, John R. McCarroll of Shelby County Circuit Court, wrote in June. "I could not in good conscience make a finding that would allow the minor to proceed with the abortion." The teenager was in court because Tennessee, like 18 other states, requires minors to obtain a parent's permission before they can have an abortion. But the state also allows another option. The teenagers can ask a judge for permission to decide for themselves. Judges, however, are starting to opt out. Other judges of the Shelby Circuit Court have recused themselves like Judge McCarroll, and now, according to one judge, only four of the nine judges on the court hear such abortion applications. Judges in Alabama and Pennsylvania have also said they will not take such cases. The actions, similar in some ways to pharmacists' refusal to dispense drugs related to contraception or abortion on moral grounds, have set off a debate about the responsibilities of judges and the consequences of such recusals, including political ones when judges are elected rather than appointed.

This is wonderful news. We have some ethical judges, just as we have some ethical pharmacists. The rabid left will not be happy, because they want everyone, even minors, to have the ability to kill their unborn babies anytime they want. It might have been better for the judge to hear the case, and then rule against the abortion, because the young girl might find a liberal judge that will let her kill her baby.

Lindsay Beyerstein blogged First pharmacists, now judges