(The Center Square) – New York’s abortion laws were upheld by a federal appeals court on Tuesday, which rejected a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of unborn fetuses in the state.
The ruling by the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a District Court judge’s dismissal of the constitutional challenge to New York’s Reproductive Health Act, a six-year old law that enshrines the right to abortion in the state.
A lawsuit filed by a social worker, known only as Mary Doe in court filings, argued that the 2019 law created an “imminent danger” to unborn fetuses by making them vulnerable to “lethal attacks” that violate their constitutional right to equal protection. Her lawyers had asked the court to certify the legal challenge as a class-action lawsuit aimed at protecting any unborn fetuses.
U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan, writing for the three-judge panel, affirmed the lower court’s dismissal because Doe “failed to identify or otherwise describe any class member in the viable fetus class that she sought to represent.”
“Without describing at least one class member and the injury he faces, Doe necessarily cannot meet her burden of plausibly establishing a live case or controversy under Article III,” he wrote in the 43-page ruling.
Sullivan said allowing plaintiff-less complaints like Doe’s to proceed as class-action lawsuits “would invite the very sort of advisory opinions that Article III seeks to safeguard against.”
“Any number of concerned bystanders could exploit next friend standing to challenge state or national laws they disagree with, even though they lack a personal stake in the dispute,” he said.
The 2019 law, signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was pushed through the Democratic majority Legislature to protect abortion rights as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering challenges to Roe v. Wade. Three years later, the landmark decision was reversed.
The law allows abortions at any stage of pregnancy and repealed a prior “fetal homicide” statute allowing a suspect who assaults a woman to be charged with murder if the attack resulted in the loss of a viable fetus.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul praised the court’s ruling, saying it means that New York’s “nation-leading abortion protections” under the Reproductive Health Act remain in effect.
“From the halls of Congress to state capitals across this country, extreme politicians are trying to strip away reproductive freedoms,” the Democrat said in a statement. “In New York, we’re standing up for women’s health and defending abortion rights. So to anyone who tries to strip away these fundamental freedoms from my constituents, I have a clear message: Not here, not now, not ever.”
