November 3, 1999
Battle over partial-birth abortion
moving closer to Supreme Court
___WASHINGTON (BP)--The legal fate of the technique known by its opponents as partial-birth abortion has moved a step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court.
___The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld laws in Illinois and Wisconsin prohibiting the procedure in a decision announced Oct. 26. The vote was 5-4.
___That clashes with previous rulings in late September by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel struck down partial-birth abortion bans in Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska, saying the bans are too broad and constitute an "undue burden" on women seeking abortions.
___"This makes it likely that the Supreme Court will rule, perhaps next year, on whether Roe vs. Wade covers" the partial-birth procedure, said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.
___Roe vs. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Unable to overturn that decision, abortion opponents in recent years have focused on so-called partial-birth abortions as a means of highlighting an extreme measure.
___The procedure prohibited by the bans reached public awareness earlier in this decade and is typically performed in the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy.
___As practiced by some abortion doctors, it involves the delivery of an intact baby feet first until only the head is left in the birth canal. The doctor pierces the base of the baby's skull with surgical scissors, then inserts a catheter into the opening and suctions out the brain. The collapse of the skull enables easier removal of the small body.
___While the seventh and eight circuit courts have rendered opinions, appeals of decisions on partial-birth abortion bans are pending in the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth circuits.
___Though 27 states have passed partial-birth abortion bans, only eight were in effect before the Seventh Circuit's decision. Others have been struck down or blocked by courts. The bans in effect are in Indiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!