On November 5, President Bush signed into law the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003,” the first federal abortion ban in U.S. history. Proponents of this law contend it is designed to ban a particular procedure. Opponents argue it will subject doctors to jail time and fines for utilizing a range of procedures that might be the safest and most appropriate for a particular woman in a particular situation.
The new federal ban is nearly identical to a 2000 Nebraska ban that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down three years ago because it covered an overly broad category of procedures and failed to include an exception to protect a woman’s health.
There is no accurate information available on how many women obtain “partial-birth abortions” because there is no accepted medical definition for that term. The medical procedure that comes closest to the one supporters of the bill say they are trying to ban is the dilation and extraction (D&X) procedure. Data from The Alan Guttmacher Institute indicate that fewer than two-tenths of one percent of all abortions were performed using this procedure in 2000. However, the overly broad language of the bill could also encompass dilation and extraction (D&E), the most common second-trimester procedure.
Three groups have immediate plans to challenge the ban:
–The American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the National Abortion Federation, a membership organization for abortion providers;
–The Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Dr. LeRoy Carhart, the Nebraska doctor who won the Supreme Court case mentioned above; and
–Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).
In addition, PPFA has launched a website, http://www.protectwomenshealth.com , focusing on the potential effect of the ban.
For an overview of induced abortion in the United States click http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
For more information on the threats to women’s access to abortion see: The Antiabortion Campaign To Personify the Fetus: Looking Back to the Future http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/gr020603.html or The Campaign Against ‘Partial-Birth’ Abortion: Status and Fallout http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/gr010606.html
For more information on the 2000 Nebraska case, see
High Court Strikes Down ‘Partial-Birth’ Ban, Upholds Protections for Clinic Clients < http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/gr030412.html
For information on state bans on "partial-birth abortion" click here http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/spib_BPBA.pdf
All current and archived articles can be downloaded from The Alan Guttmacher Institute's Web site, http://www.guttmacher.org