032874 Husband Cannot Halt Wife's Abortion


BOSTON - The Massa6fiuset s Supreme Court has ruled that a husband cannot legally prevent his wife from procuring an abortion if that is her choice.

In a brief memorandum decision, the seven-justice court vacated a week-old court ruling which enjoined a Greenfield, Mass., woman from undergoing an abortion because her husband would not consent.

Because of the time factor in the abortion situation, the court acted the same day it heard the arguments. A full opinion is to be issued later. There was no indication as to how court members voted.

The justices questioned attorneys for the unidentified Greenfield couple, a 27-year-old truck driver and his 25-year-old wife, now estranged.

Mark Berson, attorney for the husband contended that the husband-father "has a constitutional and fundamental right to a relationship with the child he has fathered.

Mrs. Paula Gold, attorney for the wife, asserted that the court "lacks authority or jurisdiction" in the case and that the injunction issued by the lower court "violates the wife's constitutional right to privacy" and is, in effect, "involuntary servitude."

Mrs. Gold's basic argument was that the wife's basic rights override the husband's in this instance.