STATEMENT OF MONICA GOODLING,
SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT:

“The Justice Department is reviewing Judge Casey's opinion. In this case, as well as in others in California and Nebraska, the Justice Department vigorously defended the law passed by Congress to prevent partial birth abortions. President Bush has said this law ‘will end an abhorrent practice and continue to build a culture of life in America.’

As Judge Casey found in his opinion, this procedure is 'gruesome, brutal, barbaric, and uncivilized,' and causes partially-born children 'severe pain.' The Justice Department has worked hard during these trials to fulfill our obligation to defend the law passed by Congress and signed by the President to protect innocent new life from partial birth abortion. As the Attorney General noted today, we will continue to defend this law, and have already appealed the recent district court ruling from California that found the law unconstitutional.”

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