Senate Passes Ban on Partial Birth Abortion
Susan Jones Morning Editor
(CNSNews.com) - As expected, the Senate passed a bill banning partial birth abortions Thursday morning, by a vote of 64 to 33. House passage is anticipated this spring, and President Bush has said he will sign the bill into law.
Supporters say the bill outlaws a barbaric procedure that is tantamount to infanticide - a baby is partially delivered, stabbed in the head, and then born dead. Opponents say the bill is a Trojan horse - a sneaky move to clamp a wider ban on other types of abortions.
Opponents of the bill are promising a court challenge once it becomes law, and supporters say they're ready.
The American Center for Law and Justice called passage of the bill "an important victory for the protection of human life."
Jay Sekulow, ACLJ's chief counsel, said his group will now work to ensure passage of a partial birth abortion ban in the U.S. House of Representatives. And he predicted the measure will end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In that case, Sekulow said, "We will work aggressively to defend this law in court - a law that is not only necessary, but eminently constitutional as well."
Another pro-life group, Concerned Women for America, said the bill the Senate passed on Thursday will "end a gruesome procedure that is harmful to women."
Sandy Rios, CWA president, says the late-term procedure endangers women's lives for the abortionist's convenience.
"Who would have thought that a ban on such a harmful procedure as partial-birth abortion would have taken nearly a decade to enact into law?" Rio s asked.
Dr. James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, called Senate passage of the bill a victory for the most vulnerable members of the human family - babies just a heartbeat away from being born.
"Any society that condones infanticide cannot call itself civilized," said Dobson in a statement. It not only kills babies, "It dulls our senses as a nation," he said.
Some pro-life groups, however, see the partial birth abortion bill as a smokescreen that obscures the real issue - which they define as abortion at any stage of pregnancy.
In a statement, President Bush called partial-birth abortion "an abhorrent procedure that offends human dignity." He commended the Senate for passing the bill, calling the action "an important step toward building a culture of life in America."