Sunday, August 4, 2002
Pennsylvania judge temporarily bars woman from ending pregnancy
A story released today by the Associated Press reports that abortion rights advocates are urging courts to immediately overturn a judge's unusual decision to temporarily bar a woman from ending her pregnancy.
The order came in a lawsuit filed by a man who is seeking to force former girlfriend Tanya Meyers to carry her pregnancy to term. John Stachokus says he is willing to take full or partial custody of the child and claims in his suit that Meyers is being pressured by her mother to have the procedure.
Lawyers representing Meyers called the order "a miscarriage of justice," while abortion opponents and father's rights groups praised it, saying men should have a say in the outcome of a pregnancy they helped create.
Luzerne County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Conahan issued the temporary injunction Wednesday. He did not say when he would issue a final ruling but asked both sides to submit briefs by Monday.
Meyers' lawyers filed an emergency appeal Thursday in state Superior Court in Harrisburg seeking to lift the injunction. That court instead asked Stachokus' attorney to submit additional legal papers by Tuesday.
Meyers' lawyers filed a similar petition with the state Supreme Court, which denied the appeal but reserved the right to revisit the issue later.
"It is unbelievable that this travesty has now been sanctioned at all levels of the Pennsylvania courts," said Linda Rosenthal, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy and lead counsel arguing on Meyers' behalf.
Anti-abortion and fathers-rights groups defended the judge's action.
"We talk about fathers negatively so often, about how they don't want to be responsible for their children, and this guy is doing everything he can to be sure his unborn child isn't aborted," said Dianna Thompson, executive director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children. "Men's rights are trampled on all the time when it comes to reproductive rights."
