Contact:  Tracy Reynolds, Media Liaison, Operation Outcry, The Justice Foundation, 210-614-7157, 650-400-0436 cell, info@txjf.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, July 2 /Christian Newswire/ -- The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on June 27th upheld South Dakota's statute requiring abortionists to tell a woman that "the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being," defined as a member of the human species (Homo sapiens).

Tracy Reynolds, of Operation Outcry, stated: "The statute simply gives a woman the biological, scientific facts that the developing organism in her womb is a human being." 

The most basic question many women ask before an abortion is "Is it a baby?" One would assume that abortionists and courts would be able to answer this question.  However, Planned Parenthood does not want to tell women abortion kills a human being.  They consistently do not tell women that abortion is being performed on a human being, a member of the species Homo sapiens, a living organism. 

The women of Operation Outcry are extremely pleased that the Courts are now listening to real women who have been hurt by abortion and beginning to protect women from abortionists, rather than listening only to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider.  The women of Operation Outcry and other women are also extremely pleased that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals cited the portion of the Supreme Court's recent Gonzales v. Carhart decision in which the testimony of post-abortive women of Operation Outcry was cited to show that "some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained.  Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow." 

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals cited this Supreme Court passage on page 16 of its opinion. 

This citation of post-abortive women's pain by the courts demonstrates again that the voices of the women of Operation Outcry are beginning to have a deep and long lasting impact on the courts of the United States.

Approximately 2,000 legally admissible testimonies collected by Operation Outcry from women who have had abortions were given to the South Dakota legislature and have become part of the legislative history of that state.  The South Dakota Task Force Report on Abortion is the first government study in thirty years to exhaustively study the effects of abortion on women, listening to both pro-abortion and pro-life sides, but most importantly listening to women who actually experienced abortions and concluding that abortions do significantly damage women.  See South Dakota Task Force Report at www.operationoutcry.org.

Lisa Dudley, Director of Outreach for Operation Outcry, and one who has suffered from abortion herself, said:  "I am thrilled that the courts have taken an important step towards protecting women's lives.  Women ought to at least be told the truth that they are killing a human being even if the law gives them the right to do so."

A copy of the opinion is available on our website, www.operationoutcry.org.