包括10名州检察长在内的64名当选检察官周三上午发表了一份联合声明，承诺不会将此定为刑事犯罪流产即使最高法院推翻罗伊诉韦德案。
检察官说，他们的决定符合他们“保护我们司法系统的完整性，维护宪法和法治”的誓言。
该组织表示，他们的声明部分是由于对近年来至少十几个州通过法律的担忧加剧，他们表示，这些州对堕胎施加了广泛的限制，并且“对谁将承担刑事责任含糊不清或保持沉默”。根据法律，如果最高法院1973年做出的里程碑式的决定被推翻，患者、医疗专业人员和医疗保健提供者可能会受到刑事指控和监禁，该决定赋予妇女在没有政府过度限制的情况下选择堕胎的宪法权利。
检察官在声明中表示:“我们不起诉堕胎妇女和提供治疗的医疗保健专业人员的承诺并不仅仅基于这些担忧——事实上，即使罗伊诉韦德案的保护措施被削弱或推翻，这一承诺也将成立。”
萨全·史汀生/ZUMA有线电视新闻网，文件
在这张2018年11月6日的档案照片中，司法部长当选人凯瑟琳·詹宁斯在德尔威尔明顿向支持者发表讲话。
这份声明发表之际，正值保守派上诉法院法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特(Amy Coney Barrett)举行确认听证会之际。唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统已选择填补已故大法官鲁斯·巴德·金斯伯格在高等法院的席位，他是最高法院自由派的元老。巴雷特的确认将使最高法院以6比3的优势严重向右倾斜。
尽管巴雷特在本周的确认听证会上一再拒绝透露她将如何裁决堕胎，但参议院司法委员会的成员提出了一些问题，暗示他们认为她反对堕胎。
民主党人警告说，对她的确认可能会导致罗伊诉韦德案的推翻。
“选举产生的检察官被赋予巨大的自由裁量权，以保护他们社区中每个人的福祉和安全，维护宪法和法治，”公平和公正检察部执行主任米丽娅姆·克林斯基说，该部组织了联合声明。
克林斯基说:“在这个危机时刻，当我们社区的许多人都在努力应对全球流行病、经济衰退和巨大的不确定性的挑战时，当选的检察官有机会领导妇女和医疗保健专业人员，并为他们提供内心的平静，否则他们可能会在行使个人医疗保健选择和刑事起诉的威胁之间做出难以维持的选择。”
声明上的签名包括纽约州、加利福尼亚州、明尼苏达州、特拉华州、佛蒙特州、马萨诸塞州、俄勒冈州、伊利诺伊州、宾夕法尼亚州、科罗拉多州和华盛顿特区的司法部长
该团体代表了全国2400多名当选检察官中的一小部分，其中83%是男性。
最近通过了限制堕胎权的立法
检察官在声明中指出，最近通过了几项旨在限制堕胎权利的法律，包括田纳西州7月颁布的“心跳”法，该法对实施堕胎施加了限制，包括最早六周的妊娠禁令。根据田纳西州的法律，被定罪的违法者可能面临最高15年的监禁和最高1万美元的罚款。
检察官说，在爱达荷州和犹他州，如果罗伊诉韦德案被推翻或限制堕胎权利的宪法修正案获得通过，最近颁布的“触发禁令”将禁止堕胎，但有有限的例外。
特拉华州司法部长凯瑟琳·詹宁斯(Kathleen Jennings)在一份声明中说:“很明显，生殖权利在国家层面和许多州都受到了前所未有的攻击，我的办公室一直在不懈地捍卫妇女权利，反对这些攻击。”
詹宁斯说，她很感激特拉华州和其他几个州有远见地将罗伊诉韦德案编纂成州法律，以永久保护妇女安全合法堕胎的权利。
詹宁斯说:“但我清楚地看到，这场战斗超越了我们州的边界。“违宪限制或彻底废除堕胎的严厉法律让我们变得不那么安全，而不是更安全，歪曲事实和诋毁选择终止妊娠的妇女的虚假信息运动是无耻的。”
签署声明的几名检察官来自最近通过限制堕胎法律的州。
签署声明的丹尼·卡尔是阿拉巴马州杰斐逊县的地区检察官，该州于2019年5月颁布了一项法律，规定医生在所有情况下实施堕胎都是重罪，唯一的例外是当母亲的生命受到威胁时。2019年10月，一名联邦法官阻止阿拉巴马州堕胎禁令生效，并称该法律违宪。
沙米卡·柯林斯是密西西比州第六司法区的地区检察官，州长泰特·里维斯在7月份签署了一项法律，禁止基于胎儿的种族、性别或基因异常进行堕胎。尽管一名联邦法官暂时阻止了密西西比州另一项一旦检测到胎儿心跳就禁止大多数堕胎的法律，该法律还是获得了通过。
雪莉·波士顿和保罗·霍华德也签署了这份声明，他们都是佐治亚州的地区检察官。佐治亚州在2019年通过了一项措施，禁止怀孕六周后或医生检测到胎儿心跳后堕胎。该法律也被上诉法院裁定违宪。
波士顿在周三的一份声明中说:“作为我所在县的当选地区检察官，我每天都亲眼目睹犯罪受害者遭受的痛苦和创伤，我有责任为他们和我社区的所有成员寻求正义。”“这些法律不仅没有考虑到受害者的需求，而且实际上可能会损害公共安全，因为它们将起诉资源花在受害者或向他们提供必要和适当护理的专业人员身上，而不是花在猥亵儿童、强奸、乱伦、人口贩运或家庭暴力的肇事者身上。”
No criminalizing abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned, 64 prosecutors pledge
Sixty-four of the nation's elected prosecutors, including 10 state attorneys general, released a joint statement Wednesday morning pledging not to criminalizeabortioneven if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
The prosecutors said their decision is in keeping with their oath of "protecting the integrity of our justice system and upholding the Constitution and rule of law."
The group said their statement was partly prompted by rising concerns over the passage of laws in recent years in at least a dozen states that they say impose broad restrictions on abortion and are "ambiguous or silent as to whom they would hold criminally responsible." Under the laws, patients, medical professionals and health care providers could possibly be criminally charged and imprisoned if the Supreme Court's 1973 landmark decision giving women the Constitutional right to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction is struck down.
"Our commitment to not prosecute women who obtain abortions and health care professionals who provide treatment is not predicated on these concerns alone – and, indeed, would hold even if the protections of Roe v. Wade were to be eroded or overturned," the prosecutors said in their statement.
In this Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, Attorney General-elect Kathleen Jennings addresses supporters in Wilmington, Del.
The statement comes amid the backdrop of confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, the conservative appeals court judge President Donald Trump has picked to fill the High Court seat of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was the veteran of the Supreme Court's liberal wing. Barett's confirmation would heavily tilt the Supreme Court to the right by a count of six to three.
While Barrett has repeatedly declined during her confirmation hearings this week to say how she would rule on abortion, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have posed questions in a manner suggesting they believe she opposes abortion.
Democrats have warned her confirmation could lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
"Elected prosecutors are entrusted with immense discretion to protect the well-being and safety of everyone in their community and to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law," said Miriam Krinsky, executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, which organized the joint statement.
"In this time of crisis -- when so many in our community are grappling with the challenges of a global pandemic, economic downturn, and tremendous uncertainty -- elected prosecutors have the opportunity to lead and to offer peace of mind to women and health care professionals who might otherwise be placed in the untenable position of choosing between the exercise of personal health care choices and the threat of criminal prosecution," Krinsky said.
Among the signatures on the statement are the attorneys general of New York, California, Minnesota, Delaware, Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington D.C.
The group represents a fraction of the more than 2,400 elected prosecutors in the nation, 83% of which are men.
Recently passed legislation curbing abortion rights
In their statement, the prosecutors noted several laws recently passed aimed at curbing abortion rights, including the "heartbeat" law enacted in Tennessee in July that imposes restrictions on performing abortions, including gestational bans as early as six weeks. Under the Tennessee law, convicted violators can face prison sentences of up to 15 years and fines of up to $10,000.
In Idaho and Utah, the prosecutors said, recently enacted "trigger bans" would ban abortion with limited exceptions if Roe v. Wade were overturned or a constitutional amendment restricting abortion rights was passed.
"It is disturbingly clear that reproductive rights are under an unprecedented assault at both the national level and in many states, and my office has fought tirelessly to defend women's rights against those assaults," Delaware State Attorney General Kathleen Jennings said in a statement.
Jennings said she is grateful that Delaware and several other states had the foresight to codify Roe v. Wade into state laws to permanently protect women's right to safe and legal abortion.
"But I am clear-eyed that this fight goes on beyond our state's borders," Jennings said. "Draconian laws that unconstitutionally restrict or outright abolish abortion make us less safe, not more, and the disinformation campaigns that warp the facts and denigrate women who choose to terminate a pregnancy are shameless."
Several of the prosecutors who signed the statement are from states that have recently passed laws restricting abortion.
Danny Carr, who signed the statement, is the District Attorney of Jefferson County, Alabama, a state that enacted a law in May 2019 making it a felony for doctors to perform abortions in all cases, with the only exception being when the life of the mother is threatened. In October 2019, a federal judge blocked the Alabama abortion ban from taking effect and called the law unconstitutional.
Shameca Collins, is the district attorney for the 6th Judicial District in Mississippi, where Gov. Tate Reeves signed a law in July banning abortion based on the race, sex or genetic anomalies of a fetus. The law was passed despite a federal judge temporarily blocking another Mississippi law banning most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Sherry Boston and Paul Howard, who also signed the statement, are both district attorneys in Georgia, a state that passed a measure in 2019 banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy or after a doctor detects a fetal heartbeat. That law, too, was struck down by an appeals court as unconstitutional.
“As the elected District Attorney for my County, each day, firsthand I see the pain and trauma victims of crime go through and it is my responsibility to pursue justice for them and for all members of my community,” Boston said in a statement on Wednesday. "These laws not only fail to consider the needs of victims but they could actually harm public safety by spending prosecutorial resources on the victim or the professionals who provided them with needed and appropriate care, rather than on the perpetrators of child molestation, rape, incest, human trafficking, or domestic violence."
