Court Opinion

ID: 9635439
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:50:35.643371+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:27.230801
License: Public Domain

CHILSON, District Judge.
I do not concur in the decision of the majority to exercise jurisdiction of this action at this time. It is my opinion that we should abstain and stay these proceedings to permit the plaintiffs to obtain a determination of the validity or invalidity of the abortion statutes by the courts of the State of Colorado. By ab*1303staining, the need to consider the federal constitutional questions raised by plaintiffs may be obviated for the reasons set forth below.
The complaint, as amended, alleges that the abortion statutes violate several provisions of the federal Constitution, principally:
The First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of speech;
The Fourth Amendment relating to privacy and prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures;
The Fifth Amendment, against self incrimination;
The Eighth Amendment, prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment;
The Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing due process of law.
The Bill of Rights set forth in the Constitution of the State of Colorado also provides for:
Freedom of speech; (Art. II Sec. 10); Protection of privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures in terms; (Art. II Sec. 7);
Prohibition against self incrimination; (Art. II Sec. 18);
Prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment (Plaintiffs allege denial of an abortion under the challenged statute constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” in many cases); (Art. II Sec. 20);
Requirement of due process; (Art. II Sec. 25).
Consequently, the plaintiffs’ attack on the abortion statutes necessarily raises questions of the validity of these statutes under the state Constitution as well as under the federal Constitution.
The validity and construction of the abortion statutes as amended in 1967 have not been presented to the courts of the State of Colorado; the questions of their validity or invalidity under the Colorado Constitution are unsettled and are enmeshed with the federal questions raised by the plaintiffs. Since the state questions are so closely linked to the federal questions, and since the determination of the state questions may eliminate the necessity of reaching the federal questions, I conclude that Reetz v. Bozanich, 397 U.S. 82, 90 S.Ct. 788, 25 L.Ed.2d 68 (1970) requires that we abstain from exercising jurisdiction in this case for a reasonable time to permit plaintiffs to repair to the state courts for a resolution of the state constitutional questions.
Since the majority of the Court has determined to exercise jurisdiction and to hear the case on its merits, I concur with the disposition made by the majority of the defendants’ motions to dismiss and strike.