GONZALES v. CARHART - A LITMUS TEST FOR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.(Correction notice)

"This decision marks a dramatic departure from four decades of Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose and recognized the importance of women's health. Today's decision blatantly defies the Court's recent decision in 2000 striking down a state partial-birth abortion law because of its failure to provide an exception for the health of the mother. As the Supreme Court recognized in Roe v. Wade in 1973, this issue is complex and highly personal; the rights and lives of women must be taken into account. It is precisely this erosion of our constitutional rights that I warned against when I opposed the nominations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito."Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), 4/18/2007

"I could not disagree more strongly with today's Supreme Court decision. The ban upheld by the Court is an ill-considered and sweeping prohibition that does not even take account for serious threats to the health of individual women. This hard right turn is a stark reminder of why Democrats cannot afford to lose the 2008 election. Too much is at stakestarting with, as the Court made all too clear today, a woman's right to choose."Former Senator John Edwards (D-NC), 4/18/2007

"I strongly disagree with today's Supreme Court ruling, which dramatically departs from previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women. As Justice Ginsburg emphasized in her dissenting opinion, this ruling signals an alarming willingness on the part of the conservative majority to disregard its prior rulings respecting a woman's medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient. I am extremely concerned that this ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman's right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to erode Roe v. Wade, which is established federal law and a matter of equal rights for women." Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), 4/18/2007

"Today the Supreme Court took a dangerous step backward in regard to Americans' rights to personal choice and privacy. While not unexpected, I believe this unfortunate decision is a clear signal that the Supreme Court is opening the door to further challenges to personal medical decisions between patients and doctors that should not involve the government. I am concerned, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated so clearly in her dissenting opinion, that this vote could be the beginning of 'an effort to chip away a right declared again and again by this court.' I sincerely hope that is not the case." Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM), 4/18/2007

In a rousing indictment of the Bush administration and the Supreme Court it created, Senator Barack Obama told a Planned Parenthood convention here on Tuesday that the next election would decide a fundamental question: "What kind of America will our daughters grow up in?"

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton declared that President Bush had consistently "played politics with women's health." She added, "He has chipped away at reproductive rights..."

She added, to cheers, "I want you to know that when I'm president, I will devote my very first days in office ...