BY ERWIN CHEMERINSKY AND DENNIS AFTERGUT, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS
In order for a federal court to hear a case, the plaintiffs must have standing to sue, which means that they must show that they are personally injured. The judge said that the conservative organization could sue on behalf of doctors because “adverse events from chemical abortion drugs can overwhelm the medical system and place ‘enormous pressure and stress’ on doctors during emergencies and complications.” No evidence supports that preposterous premise as a basis for standing. Twenty-three years of experience have shown that this is fanciful and that the evidence is overwhelming that medically induced abortions are safer than surgical abortions or childbirth — even safer than taking Tylenol.
Judge Kacsmaryk also wrote that “[m]embers of plaintiff medical associations oppose being forced to end the life of a human being in the womb for no medical reason.” But no doctor is “forced” to perform abortions or prescribe medication that offends personal beliefs.
The Supreme Court can easily reverse Judge Kacsmaryk by holding that he erred in allowing the plaintiffs to sue and if it reaches the merits, that he was wrong in substituting his medical judgment for that made by the FDA 23 years ago.
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lennyesq 