"In a partial-birth abortion, the abortionist pulls a living baby feet-first out of the womb and into the birth canal (vagina), except for the head, which the abortionist purposely keeps lodged just inside the cervix (the opening to the womb). The abortionist punctures the base of the baby’s skull with a surgical instrument, such as a long surgical scissors or a pointed hollow metal tube called a trochar. He then inserts a catheter (tube) into the wound, and removes the baby's brain with a powerful suction machine. This causes the skull to collapse, after which the abortionist completes the delivery of the now-dead baby."

From the National Right to Life Website

06/05/03

Plain Dealer Bureau
Sabrina Eaton

Washington - The U.S. House yesterday overwhelmingly voted to ban a controversial abortion procedure whose future is likely to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Abortion foes have spent the better part of a decade striving to prohibit the procedure they call "partial birth" abortions, in which a fetus is partly extracted from the uterus, and its brain is removed before it passes completely from the birth canal.

Two prior versions of the legislation were vetoed by President Clinton. President Bush, who describes the procedure as "abhorrent," has promised to sign the bill, which passed the Senate in March.

Advocates on both sides of the abortion issue say the bill will face immediate legal challenges, and National Right to Life Committee Legislative Director Douglas Johnson said he anticipates enforcement will be suspended until the litigation is settled.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has promised to file a lawsuit, said the bill adopted yesterday is no different from a Nebraska law that the Supreme Court determined was unconstitutional just three years ago. But Johnson said he hopes the high court's composition will change before the case arrives and the court will reverse itself.

"We would like to see the Supreme Court move in the direction of protecting human life," said Johnson.

Abortion defenders, who call the procedure dilation and extraction and insist it is rarely used, said the legislation adopted yesterday is a step toward rolling back the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortions, Roe v. Wade.

"This is a broad, unconstitutional bill which sacrifices women's health and future fertility on the altar of extreme right wing ideology," said Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Yesterday's bill passed by a 282-139 margin after several hours of heated, and often graphic, debate.

"Partial-birth abortion is the termination of the life of a living baby just seconds before it takes its first breath outside the womb," said Cincinnati Republican Rep. Steve Chabot, the bill's chief sponsor. "The procedure is violent. It is gruesome. It is horrific. It is barbaric. It is infanticide."

Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who supported the bill when he first arrived in Congress, opposed it yesterday after saying he believes it is unconstitutional because it doesn't contain an exemption to protect women's health.

"This House can do better to truly work to reduce the need for abortions while respecting freedom of choice," said Kucinich, who voted "present" on the bill last year as a protest.

Local members of Congress who supported the bill included Democrats Marcy Kaptur of Toledo and Tim Ryan of Youngstown, and Republicans Steve LaTourette of Madison and Ralph Regula of Canton.

Opponents included Democrats Kucinich and Sherrod Brown of Lorain. Democratic Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland did not vote.

Key Facts on Partial Birth Abortion : http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/KeyfactsJune02.html
 

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