THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PEDIATRICIANS URGES ALABAMA SUPREME COURT TO SAY NO TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALABAMA’S CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
MONTGOMERY, AL. (November 9, 2015) – In a brief filed Friday, the American College of Pediatricians (the College) urged the Alabama Supreme Court to consider the well-being of children in the case before them that would decide the legal impact of Obergefell v. Hodges in Alabama. Obergefell is the 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court of the United States discovering a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
“The court must understand the gravity of their decision in its impact upon children and families,” College Past President and Alabama pediatrician, Dr. Den Trumbull said. “Every child needs a mother and a father. Same-sex marriage directly disenfranchises children of this right.”
The College wrote that, “accepting Obergefell v. Hodges as legitimate policy would deliberately deprive children of the mother and the father so essential – not only to their conception – but to their well-being.”
“This Court should take care,” the brief reads, “that innocent and helpless Alabama children are not sacrificed on the altar of adult passions, judicial will, or politically correct opinion. Children are not playthings, that state or federal courts can force upon them a novel social experiment that only promises them higher chances of failure, confusion, and harm.”
The College outlined evidence from large, nationally-representative studies demonstrating that children raised by same-sex parents, particularly those who identify as married, do not fare as well as those with opposite-sex parents and many experience substantial harm. It further outlined for the Court that the research claiming “no difference” between children raised by a parent and their same-sex partner and children raised by a biological father and mother has methodological flaws and has been subject to bias and politicization of research criteria. There is unequivocal evidence of the fundamental value of the married, father-mother family unit to the optimal development of the child.
“Gratefully,” the College wrote, “there is legal, constitutional, and historical recourse to address the social injustice and constitutional travesty outlined in Obergefell.” The Alabama Supreme Court is urged to reaffirm its acknowledgement that traditional husband/wife marriage is the law of this State and cannot be altered by judicial fiat.
For more information, including a link to the Amicus Brief filed with the Supreme Court, visit the Same-Sex Marriage page on the College website: www.Best4Children.org
