JRHS Writing BLOG

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act Upheld by the Supreme Court

In 2003, Congress passed a bill that President Bush signed prohibiting partial-birth abortions (also known as dilation and extraction) in the United States. However, the constitutionality of the Act was in question so it was never put into affect and was brought before the Supreme Court. The Court finally came to a decision April 18th concerning the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, voting 5-4 to uphold the ban. Many Pro-Choice enthusiasts believe this Act to be a step backwards and think that it will begin to slowly break down women’s rights. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the decision “cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this court (WORLD). However, the President and five justices found the ban necessary to prohibit a medical procedure that borders infanticide. A section of the Act reads, “The gruesome and inhumane nature of the partial-birth abortion procedure and its disturbing similarity to the killing of a newborn infant promotes a complete disregard for infant human life that can only be countered by a prohibition of the procedure” (Congress).

This Act does not at all influence other methods of abortion, only partial-birth, and actually affects very few women considering abortions since about 90% of abortions performed in the United States take place in the first trimester by other methods. Even so, not all abortions that take place after the first 12 weeks are partial-birth abortions; there are other, legal options. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act therefore will likely not reduce the number of abortions in our country, but it simply eliminates a cruel and atrocious option.

The Act describes partial-birth abortion as, “an abortion in which a physician delivers an unborn child’s body until only the head remains inside the womb, punctures the back of the child’s skull with a sharp instrument, and sucks the child’s brains out before completing delivery of the dead infant” and calls it “a gruesome and inhumane procedure” (Congress). Furthermore, the Act described the pain that a partial-birth abortion causes the infant. “The vast majority of babies killed during partial-birth abortions are alive until the end of the procedure. It is a medical fact, however, that unborn infants at this stage can feel…and that their perception of this pain is even more intense than that of newborn infants and older children…Thus, during a partial-birth abortion procedure, the child will fully experience the pain associated with piercing his or her skull and sucking out his or her brain” (Congress).

President Bush was happy with the Court’s ruling saying, “Today’s decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people’s representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America” (WORLD). He also acknowledged the victory in the fight to protect the sanctity of life.

This Court ruling allowed life to triumph over death, even in this small way, although other forms of abortion will continue unhindered. Though less obviously brutal than partial-birth abortion, other methods achieve the same affect, the destruction of human life, and will continue to be part of our culture and our world. The Supreme Court’s upholding of this Act is just one small step in ending the brutality and saving the lives of the innocent infants of the future.


108th Congress. Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/abortion/2003s3.html


Sherman, Mark. Justices Uphold Abortion Procedure Ban. World Magazine. April 18, 2007. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SCOTUS_ABORTION?SITE=NCAGW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT