High court turns back pro-life sheriff
WASHINGTON (BP)--The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider an Arizona sheriff's request that he not be forced to take jail inmates to clinics for elective abortions.
The high court rejected an appeal by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio after two Arizona courts ruled his office must provide transportation for abortions, The Arizona Republic reported.
"I'm disappointed," Arpaio said, according to The Republic, after the court's March 24 announcement. "We fought the good fight. I still don't agree that we should take females on a voluntary basis to an abortion. I'm still against that. But we took it to the highest court, and we'll see what happens if the situation comes before me again in the jail system."
In 2004, Arpaio's office refused to transport a prisoner to a previously scheduled abortion without a court order, the newspaper reported. The court order was issued, and the inmate had an abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona sued in order to protect the abortion rights of future prisoners.
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals handed a defeat to a similar policy in Missouri prisons in January. The appeals court upheld a federal judge's 2006 ruling that the policy violated the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which includes "due process" and "equal protection" rights.
Reported by Tom Strode, Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press.
