Senate passes ban on late-term abortions

Christian Century, April 5, 2003

The Senate, controlled by the Republicans since earlier this year, has passed legislation banning the rare but controversial late-term abortion procedures labeled by critics as "partial-birth abortion." The vote was 64 to 33, with 16 Democrats joining the majority. Three Republicans and one independent voted against the legislation.

Hailed as a major victory by antiabortion groups and President Bush, supporters expect the bill to sail through the House by the end of April and to be signed into law by Bush shortly thereafter. A similar bill passed the House but died in the Democratic-controlled Senate during the last session.

Previous versions of the bill passed but were vetoed by President Bill Clinton. Congress could not muster enough votes to override the veto in those instances.

"Partial-birth abortion is an abhorrent procedure that offends human dignity, and I commend the Senate for passing legislation to ban it," Bush said in response to the news. Employing terminology popularized by Pope John Paul II in his essays opposing abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment, Bush called the action "an important step toward building a culture of life in America."

However, opponents said the bill is virtually identical to a law overturned by the Supreme Court three years ago. In that case, Stenberg v. Carhart, the court invalidated a Nebraska "partial-birth" ban because it was over-broad and failed to include an exemption to preserve the health of the mother.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) cited medical professionals who pointed to cases in which the "dilation and extraction" abortion, as the procedure also is called, was the safest option for preserving the mother's health when ending troubled pregnancies. Feinstein offered an amendment that would have added a health exception to the ban, but the Senate turned down the amendment, as well as others designed to lessen the bill's impact.--ABP