Partial Birth Abortion Ban Upheld

A big push for states rights! Right on!

Court Backs Ban on Abortion Procedure

Apr 18 10:18 AM US/Eastern

By MARK SHERMAN

Associated Press Writer

AP Article Links; as well as Breitbart.com

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long- awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench.

The 5-4 ruling said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

The opponents of the act "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.

The decision pitted the court's conservatives against its liberals, with President Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, siding with the majority.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia also were in the majority.

It was the first time the court banned a specific procedure in a case over how—not whether—to perform an abortion.

Abortion rights groups have said the procedure sometimes is the safest for a woman. They also said that such a ruling could threaten most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, although government lawyers and others who favor the ban said there are alternate, more widely used procedures that remain legal.

The outcome is likely to spur efforts at the state level to place more restrictions on abortions.

More than 1 million abortions are performed in the United States each year, according to recent statistics. Nearly 90 percent of those occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and are not affected by Tuesday's ruling.

Six federal courts have said the law that was in focus Wednesday is an impermissible restriction on a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

The law bans a method of ending a pregnancy, rather than limiting when an abortion can be performed.

What Is Partial Birth Abortion?

sixth months of pregnancy, but it can be performed as late as the moment of birth. Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grasps an unborn baby's legs with a forceps and pulls the struggling victim out of its mother. When all of the baby's body but the head is exposed, a scissors perforates the base of the skull and an aspirator is inserted to suck out the living brains. (The illustration, showing the scissors being used after the forced breech birth, is taken from a training manual prepared by an Ohio abortionist. The baby is five or six months old.)

If the mother accidentally pushed, and that baby came out the rest of the way, it would now be considered human and the doctor would be required by law to save that child’s life with all the power a hospital could muster. You see how silly the designation is? Three inches makes a “fetus” a human!

VIDEO - VIDEO - VIDEO

Abortion Discussed in Philosophical, logical, and Theological Terms