Last week, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that an unborn baby is a person under the law. As such, a person who kills an unborn child can be punished by execution.

An Alabama man was convicted of shooting and killing his wife and unborn child in 2009. The unborn baby was six to eight weeks gestation. The man received the death penalty.

An Unborn Child

In the case of Jessie Phillips v. State of Alabama, Phillips argued to the Alabama Supreme Court that he should not have been given the death penalty. He claimed that an unborn baby wasn’t a person according to Alabama law. However, the Court upheld Phillips’ death penalty sentence. They also held that a baby was a person and that “the value of the life of an unborn child is no less than the value of the lives of other persons.”

The Fallacy of Roe v. Wade

Justice Tom Parker wrote a special concurrence. “I write specially to expound upon the principles presented in the main opinion and to note the continued legal anomaly and logical fallacy that is Roe v. Wade,” he said. “I urge the United States Supreme Court to overrule this increasingly isolated exception to the rights of unborn children.”

He argued that Roe v. Wade, “without historical or constitutional support, carved out an exception to the rights of unborn children and prohibited states from recognizing an unborn child’s inalienable right to life when that right conflicts with a woman’s ‘right’ to abortion.”

Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion. “(If the) suggestion of personhood [of the preborn] is established, the [abortion rights] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.”

Human Genocide of Abortion

Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said, “We applaud Justice Tom Parker in calling on the Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision and once again protect precious children, women, and families. Abortion is simply a euphemism created by activists to soften what it really is: the murder of innocent unborn children. We must stop this human genocide.”

Dr. James Dobson posted on Facebook his response to the court ruling:

I am truly encouraged by the Alabama Supreme Court’s opinion, which powerfully affirms the humanity of the unborn in the eyes of the law. In this tragic instance, by ruling that the murder of a pregnant woman is a double homicide, God has truly done as the scriptures say: what was intended for evil… God intended for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

In his powerful concurrence, Justice Parker has given voice to so many of us who are devoted to defending the lives of the unborn by making a declarative legal argument for why the scourge of Roe v. Wade must, once and for all, be repealed by the U.S. Supreme Court. I encourage everyone to read his powerful argument for themselves, and take heart as we all continue to be a voice for life.

Justice Parker is currently campaigning for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.