Opinion ID: 472591
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: disposition of fetal remains

Text: 28 I turn now to the issue of the constitutionality of Sec. 40:1299.35.14 concerning the disposal of fetal remains. 3 Relying on City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Inc., 462 U.S. 416, 103 S.Ct. 2481, 76 L.Ed.2d 687 (1983), the majority affirms the summary judgment of the district court striking down this provision because there was no showing that only a physician could provide this information to a woman. The majority reserves any judgment as to the validity of this provision if it simply required that the woman who had had an abortion be informed by some means of the options for disposal of fetal remains. In my view the holding of the majority, in abandoning the rationale of the district court, is too narrow. 29 A woman's decision made in consultation with her physician to terminate her pregnancy before the fetus becomes viable outside the womb is established as a fundamental right. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 163, 93 S.Ct. 705, 732, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973); Harris v. McRae, 448 U.S. 297, 312, 100 S.Ct. 2671, 2686, 65 L.Ed.2d 784 (1980). This right may not be infringed absent a compelling state interest and then only through regulation reasonably designed to further this interest. City of Akron, 462 U.S. at 427, 103 S.Ct. at 2491. A state may not seek to make a woman's exercise of her right to an abortion more burdensome or expensive than it need be. Id. at 435, 103 S.Ct. at 2495. The imposition of state requirements of the kind here at issue upon anyone advising or working with a woman who has opted for an abortion is such a burden. Unless the state presents a compelling reason for doing so, such a regulation must fail. Id. at 444, 103 S.Ct. at 2500. A physician's role in advising or assisting a woman making and carrying out the choice to have an abortion is a fundamental feature of the exercise of this right. See Id. at 448, 103 S.Ct. at 2502; Colautti, 439 U.S. at 387, 99 S.Ct. at 681 (1979). The panel majority's view encourages the state to amend its statute to force a woman to be informed of the options even against the conclusion of her attending physician that such a notification would be harmful to her. Thus, the Louisiana statute would inhibit a physician's duty of care to his or her patient even if it were amended to remove the duty of required notification from the physician and place it upon someone else. 30 The decision to have an abortion undoubtedly is a difficult decision for many women. Planned Parenthood, 428 U.S. at 67, 96 S.Ct. at 2840. Informing a woman who has just undergone an abortion that she may decide as to the disposition of fetal remains could well exacerbate this anxiety. Disposal by cremation or burial, for instance, may endow the fetus with a humanlike dignity. This may create the constitutionally unacceptable impression that any fetus is a person. Thornburgh, supra, --- U.S. at ----, 106 S.Ct. at 2188. (Stevens, J., concurring). Conversely, Sec. 1299.35.14 may result in unnecessary stress upon some women by stripping all dignity and solemnity from the event. For example, a common method for disposing of fetal remains in many abortion clinics is through the local sewer system. 4 Informing a woman who has just had an abortion that the fetal remains can be disposed of in this way appears to be nothing more than a cruel tactic to induce a feeling of guilt. 31 The decision of whether and when a woman should be asked or informed about the disposal of fetal remains is a significant aspect of the physician's care of his or her patient. The attending physician understands his patient and the situation better than a distant legislature. There is, moreover, no legitimate state interest that I can discern or that was shown at the trial for placing this burden upon a woman who has just undergone an abortion. 32 Of course, the state of Louisiana has the authority and the obligation to ensure that the tissue produced by abortions be disposed of in an appropriate manner. This is a proper exercise of the state's police power. But the exercise of that power is not at issue. Disposal of fetal remains in Louisiana has thus far been properly handled by Louisiana abortion clinics and attending physicians without any adverse consequences to public health. There is no need shown for the state to compel a woman to be informed of the options for disposal. State interference in the decision of how to dispose of fetal remains among lawful and appropriate options is a clear interference in the attending physician's judgment. The state makes no showing of greater state interest in consultation with patients as to the disposal of fetal remains than in the disposal of amputated portions of the body or other human tissue excised during surgery. 33 The inquiry required by the statute of women who have just undergone abortions also is not shown to advance the state's interest in maternal health. Evidence as to the psychological effect of this information was presented by both sides. The district court found the appellees' evidence more persuasive. As this is a factual determination, we are bound by that finding because it is not clearly erroneous. Williamson v. Brown, 646 F.2d 196, 199 (5th Cir.1981). Even if we were not so bound, however, we should be hard-pressed to accept the state's evidence as persuasive. It stretches credibility to conclude that this requirement would promote benefits to the psychological health of the women involved as against her physician's conclusion to the contrary. 34 I emphasize my difference with the majority opinion in its attempt in footnote 9 to place a restricted and distorted analysis upon the Supreme Court's holding in Thornburgh. I note first that in using the phrase a bare majority of the Court, the opinion again enters into the issue of the merits of the overall abortion controversy which, as I pointed out earlier, has no place in this case. Thornburgh is the law, and we must follow it. 35 But more critical is the emphasis in footnote 9 that Thornburgh did not deal with a post-abortion requirement as does this case. Doubt is implied about the full import of the Supreme Court's holding by saying it cannot be read to forbid a sole requirement that the giving of potentially unwelcome information to the woman is forbidden. This conclusion unduly restricts the clear import of Thornburgh in two respects as it applies to this case. First, here involved is more than imparting information. It is pressuring the woman to make a choice. Second, and more important however, is the fact that the entire theme of Thornburgh is to forbid intimidating women from exercising their constitutional right or creating unjustified anxiety in the exercise of that right. There is even less justification for a state to require information be given the woman and to require her to choose an option after the legal abortion procedure. Then the only discernible purpose of the state compulsion is to increase her feelings of anxiety, concern, and possible wrongdoing for exercising her constitutional right. Thornburgh unequivocally prohibits a state's legislating for such a purpose. --- U.S. at ----, ---- - ----, ----, ----, 106 S.Ct. at 2178, 2179-2180, 2182, 2184 36 Because Sec. 1299.35.13 unduly straitjackets an attending physicians' professional judgment in the care of his or her patients who desire abortions, it presents an unconstitutional infringement on a woman's reproductive freedom. I would hold this provision unconstitutional on this ground, following the established law of City of Akron, 462 U.S. at 442, 103 S.Ct. at 2499; Planned Parenthood, 428 U.S. at 67 n. 8, 96 S.Ct. at 2840 n. 8; and Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. at 163, 93 S.Ct. at 732. My decision in no way would constrain a woman's choice to dispose of fetal remains in any manner she feels is fitting so long as it is lawful. Nor would my decision prevent a physician from informing or asking the patient of her choices for disposal. I conclude only that a state may not compel that a woman be notified of the options when her physician or others responsible for her well being feel such notification is not in the best interests of the woman.