Statement of Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California:

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in 2003. In its first abortion decision since the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the court ruled 5-4 that the law does not violate the Constitution by imposing an undue burden on a woman's right to end a pregnancy. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Abortion Federation, sharply criticized this decision by the court.

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, said, "This is a frightening decision. The high court has made a ruling severely limiting a woman's right to choose and this is the most damaging attack on this fundamental right in 30 years."

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A bill to reopen California police records and restore civilian oversight cleared a key hurdle in the state Senate. The bill would reverse a state Supreme Court decision that put police disciplinary records off-limits for the public and threatens 30 years of police reform in California.

Hundreds of ACLU/SC members sent letters and made calls to state legislators urging support of the measure.

In L.A., the court's decision meant the public was denied access to a police hearing that cleared the officer who shot unarmed 13-year-old Devin Brown in 2005. "American justice is done in the open, but the conduct of LAPD officers is now judged in secrecy," the ACLU/SC said at the time.

The bill passed the Senate committee 3-2, and a similar bill is pending in the Assembly. The bills are backed by California newspapers and First Amendment and civil-rights groups.

The Supreme Court's fractured 5-4 decision to ban an abortion procedure with no exception for a mother's health is "frightening," said ACLU/SC Executive Director Ramona Ripston. "The high court has made a ruling severely limiting a woman's right to choose and this is the most damaging attack on this fundamental right in 30 years," she stated.
The ACLU had filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National Abortion Federation and medical doctors who opposed the 2003 federal ban.
This was the first abortion decision since the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, which left only one woman on the Court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the decision an "alarming" departure from the precedent set by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
"For the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a woman's health," she wrote in a sharp dissent.