Before a crowd of more than 400 pro-life lawmakers and activists, President Bush signed into law the first federal ban on an abortion procedure since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
“For years, a terrible form of violence has been directed against children who are inches from birth, while the law looked the other way,” Bush said at the signing event. “Today, at last, the American people and our government have confronted the violence and come to the defense of the innocent child.”
“The best case against partial birth abortion is a simple description of what happens and to whom it happens. It involves the partial delivery of a live boy or girl, and a sudden, violent end of that life. Our nation owes its children a different and better welcome,” Bush added.
Though the courts may overturn the ban, the American people have strongly supported the common sense limit on abortions.
A Gallup-CNN-USA Today poll conducted in late October found that among young adults (age 18-29), the ban is favored 77-19%, while older groups support it 68-25%.
Meanwhile, abortion advocates, led by the National Organization for Women, protested outside the building. They chanted, “We will remember in November.”
“We won't stand by silently as this administration attempts to erode our rights,” NOW President Kim Gandy said. “Women's rights activists across the country will be recommitting ourselves to keeping abortion safe, legal and accessible.”
One leading Democratic presidential candidate also took issue with the pro-life legislation. Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor who served on the board of Planned Parenthood of New England, said Bush should not have signed the bill.
“This law will chill the practice of medicine and endanger the health of countless women,” Dean claimed.
Congress has tried since 1995 to make a ban on partial-birth abortions law and twice former President Clinton vetoed the legislation.
The event took place at the Ronald Reagan building, named after the former President who was a strong supporter of the right to life.
Pro-life groups issued virtually unanimous praise for Bush on signing the legislation.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said: “Today I want to express my deep gratitude, and that of all the U.S. Catholic bishops, to President George W. Bush for signing into law a ban on one of the most inhumane procedures ever inflicted on a human child — partial-birth abortion.”
“This is an incredible moment for anyone who recognizes that a civilized nation cannot allow an abortion procedure that takes the life of a child in the very process of being born,” said Jennifer Bingham, Executive Director of the Susan B. Anthony List.
Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson added, “We applaud President Bush and Congress, and express our deepest appreciation, for enacting the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. Since this horrifying procedure became public almost a decade ago, the American people have shown a firm and unwavering resolve to ban it.”
“President Bush did today what Bill Clinton should have done in 1996, ban a barbaric procedure that is nothing short of infanticide,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
See also:
Text of President Bush's speech
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
Shortly after President Bush signed the partial-birth abortion ban into law, a federal judge in Nebraska said the pro-life law is unconstitutional and issued a temporary injunction against it.
“It seems to me the law is highly suspect, if not a per se violation of the constitution,” said U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf.
Kopf agreed with a previous Supreme Court decision and said the law should have included a health exception.
Pro-life groups say a health exception is unnecessary and would make the ban useless as any reason can be given to justify a partial-birth abortion as necessary to protect a mother's health.
“While it is also true that Congress found that a health exception is not needed, it is, at the very least, problematic whether I should defer to such a conclusion when the Supreme Court has found otherwise,” Kopf said.
Attorneys for the Bush administration disagreed.
U.S. Justice Department attorney Anthony Coppolino told Kopf that he should show deference to Congress' findings that the abortion procedure is not medically necessary.
Kopf stopped short of prohibiting the law nationwide, saying his injunction only applied to the four abortion practitioners who filed the Nebraska lawsuit. He did not schedule a full hearing for the case.
Three pro-abortion groups filed suit in various federal courts on Friday to prevent the legislation from becoming law. The Center for Reproductive Rights, a pro-abortion law firm based in New York, filed one of the lawsuits in federal court in Nebraska on behalf of LeRoy Carhart, who performs partial-birth abortions in Omaha.
The suits were filed in advance in an attempt to obtain an injunction immediately after Bush's signature.
The Nebraska lawsuit included four abortion practitioners: LeRoy Carhart of Nebraska; William Fitzhugh of Virginia; William Knorr who does abortions in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and New York; and Jill Vibhakar of Iowa.
Kopf also said the bill did not present “an objective” presentation of the facts and had a “serious vagueness problem.”
He also wondered why Congress didn't invite those who perform partial-birth abortions to Congress to testify.
Carhart has been in court before in an attempt to block a ban on partial-birth abortions. He sued to overturn Nebraska's state ban and, in 2000, the Supreme Court agreed that the law was unconstitutional.
If was Kopf who originally ruled that the Nebraska ban was unconstitutional.
Pro-life lawmakers tightened up the language in the bill — making the definition of the abortion procedure more specific and including a lengthy findings section countering the court's objection that a health exception is necessary.
Hearings are also scheduled today on the other two pro-abortion lawsuits.
The ACLU filed a similar lawsuit in New York on behalf of the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed suit in federal court in San Francisco for its affiliates nationwide.
Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the president believes the new law will be upheld. “We believe it is constitutional and you could expect that we would vigorously defend this law in the courts,” McClellan said.
New York Judge Asks Tough Questions in Abortion Ban Lawsuit
A federal judge asked both sides tough questions during a hearing on a challenge to the partial-birth abortion ban President Bush signed Wednesday.
In advance of Bush's signature on the bill, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of the National Abortion Federation, a federation of independent abortion businesses across the country.
U.S. District Judge Richard Casey pressed both sides to make their case.
ACLU attorney Talcott Camp told Casey he should follow the 2000 Carhart v. Stenberg decision whereby the Supreme Court by a 5-4 decision overturned a Nebraska abortion ban because it lacked a health exception.
“The Supreme Court has spoken: This ban must have a health exception,” she said. “The Supreme Court and only the Supreme Court can change the standard.”
But Casey interrupted Camp asking, “Doesn't the court have to give some deference to the findings of Congress that are spelled out in this statute?”
In a lengthy findings section, Congress indicated partial-birth abortions are never medically necessary to protect the health of the mother.
Assistant U.S. attorney Sheila Gowan argued on behalf of the Bush administration. She urged Casey to defer to the Congressional findings.
But Casey pressed her and asked if Congress was attempting to “trump” the Supreme Court. “I don't think so, your honor,” she responded.
Casey made no decision on the request for an injunction against the law and mat not do so this week. Abortion advocates were hoping to get the pro-life law enjoined before midnight, when it goes into effect.
He became upset when Camp asked him to issue a restraining order against the law because partial-birth abortions are continuing.
“From what you tell me, they're ignoring the whole thing and going full speed ahead,” Casey said. “Sounds like, 'Damn the torpedoes, we're going to do what we're going to do.”'
Planned Parenthood filed a similar lawsuit in San Francisco on behalf of its affiliates and a pro-abortion law firm filed suit for partial-birth abortionist LeRoy Carhart and three others in Nebraska.
In the Nebraska hearing, a federal judge granted a temporary injunction that prevents the law from taking effect in several states where the four abortion practitioners who sued are licensed to practice.
That doesn't go over well with pro-life groups.
“Partly born, premature infants will die tomorrow at the point of seven-inch scissors, because of a federal judge's order,” Douglas Johnson of National Right to Life commented.
Johnson said the Supreme Court will ultimately hear a lawsuit regarding the ban again.
Bush signed the partial-birth abortion ban Wednesday afternoon saying, the right to life “cannot be granted or denied by government because it does not come from government. It comes from the creator of life
(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and LifeNews.com. For more information or to subscribe go to LifeNews.com or email [email protected].)
