Fargo, ND (Life Legal Defense Foundation) — Following a three-day bench trial, Fargo District Court Judge Michael McGuire ruled that the Red River Women's Clinic is not violating North Dakota's false advertising statute by asserting in its brochures “there is no evidence” abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. Despite his ruling, the judge expressly acknowledged that he did not consider the lawsuit “frivolous,” noting that the attorneys for the plaintiff, Amy Mattson Kjolsrud, presented substantial “documentation” to support her claim. Study after study presented at trial demonstrated an increased risk to women, as well as the absurdity of the clinic's claim that “there is no evidence.”
Judge McGuire based his stunning decision on the mistaken notion that epidemiological studies only provide evidence of statistical associations and not of cause-and-effect relationships, despite explicit testimony by the abortion clinic's own expert epidemiologist that the whole purpose of such studies is to provide evidence for or against a causal link. Indeed, properly conducted epidemiological studies are typically considered the strongest evidence of causation — an example being the theory that smoking causes cancer.
To date, 28 out of the 37 published epidemiological studies show a relationship between abortion and risk of breast cancer. These studies also show evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship between abortion and increased breast cancer by the hormone, estrogen, present in both pregnancy and breast cancer.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing the clinic from continuing to state or imply that there is no evidence that abortion increases breast cancer risk, and also affirmatively requiring the clinic to give its prospective customers accurate, objective information about the evidence linking abortion and breast cancer. Such a result would have finally established the legal duty of abortion clinics to warn women considering abortion about the abortion-breast cancer link.
Kjolsrud intends to appeal to the North Dakota Supreme Court because of the strength of the plaintiff's case and the flaws in the trial court's reasoning, and most importantly, because of the impact this precedent-setting lawsuit will have on the women for whom it was brought.
Even though her attorneys are handling the case free of charge, the costs and expenses associated with the case are enormous and a key consideration in the appeal.
Click here for related articles and information from the Life Legal Defense Foundation
(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)