The bill was passed by the House on July 24, , by a vote of The measure was not considered by the Senate. The bill defined the term "partial-birth abortion" to mean an abortion in which "the person performing the abortion deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living fetus.
Although H. They contended that congressional hearings and fact finding revealed that a partial-birth abortion is never necessary to preserve the health of a woman, and that such an abortion poses serious risks to a woman's health.
The House approved H. The Senate agreed to the conference report on October 21, , by a vote of The act prohibits physicians from performing a partial-birth abortion except when it is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.
Physicians who violate the act are subject to a fine, imprisonment for not more than two years, or both. Although the Supreme Court previously held that restrictions on abortion must allow for the performance of an abortion when it is necessary to protect the health of the mother, the act does not include such an exception.
In his introductory statement for the act, then Senator Rick Santorum discussed the act's lack of a health exception. Senator Santorum insisted that congressional hearings and expert testimony demonstrate "that a partial birth abortion is never necessary to preserve the health of the mother, poses significant health risks to the woman, and is outside the standard of medical care.
Within two days of the act's signing, federal courts in Nebraska, California, and New York blocked its enforcement. The Court noted: "[I]f an abortion procedure does not involve the delivery of a living fetus to one of these 'anatomical landmarks'—where, depending on the presentation, either the fetal head or the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother—the prohibitions of the act do not apply.
The Court also maintained that the inclusion of a scienter or knowledge requirement in the federal statute alleviates any vagueness concerns. The Court also considered the statute's lack of a health exception. In contrast, the federal statute uses the phrase "delivers a living fetus. According to the Court, the absence of a health exception also did not result in an undue burden. Citing its decision in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England , 50 the Court noted that a health exception would be required if it subjected women to significant health risks.
Although the Court upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of without a health exception, it acknowledged that there may be "discrete and well-defined instances" where the prohibited procedure "must be used. Justice Ginsburg authored the dissent in Gonzales. She was joined by Justices Stevens, Souter, and Breyer. Describing the Court's decision as "alarming," Justice Ginsburg questioned upholding the federal statute when the relevant procedure has been found to be appropriate in certain cases.
Justice Ginsburg also criticized the Court's decision to uphold the statute without a health exception. Justice Ginsburg declared: "Not only does it defy the Court's longstanding precedent affirming the necessity of a health exception, with no carve-out for circumstances of medical uncertainty.
Finally, Justice Ginsburg contended that the Court's decision "cannot be understood as anything more than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by [the] Court—and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives.
See Richmond Medical Center for Women v. Gilmore, F. Ryan, F. Voinovich, F. Roe v. Partial-birth abortion PBA is the term Congress has used to describe a procedure that crosses the line from abortion to infanticide.
The doctor delivers a substantial portion of the living child outside his mother's body the entire head in a head-first delivery or the trunk past the navel in a feet-first delivery then kills the child by crushing his skull or removing his brain by suction.
Some abortion doctors use PBA in the middle and last months of pregnancy, when dismembering a child becomes more difficult due to the child's stronger bones and ligaments. After the mother undergoes two to three days of cervical dilation increasing her risk of infection and subsequent preterm births , the doctor in minutes can partially deliver the child "intact" before killing him or her and completing delivery.
In the more commonly used dismemberment method, the mother's cervix is dilated manually only enough to remove the child's severed body parts; dismemberment and removal takes the doctor longer to complete. Since then, abortion has been politically debated, and one way politics has entered abortion policy is within its terminology. You've likely seen some abortions referred to as 'late-term abortion'. However, 'late-term abortion' is not a recognized medical term. According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology , "the term 'late-term abortion' has no medical definition and is not used in a clinical setting or to describe the delivery of abortion care later in pregnancy.
Adds Gillian Dean, M. To be clear: There is no such thing as an abortion up until birth, and 'late-term abortion' is not a term used by reputable health care providers. Still, we often hear these terms in the news—and you may have even mistakenly used them yourself.
We chatted with experts to clear up the confusion. Keeping abortion terminology by gestation period is the proper way to define it. Since , when abortion was legalized nationally, around 11 percent of abortions have occurred at or after 13 weeks gestation. According to the Guttmacher Institute, here is when women have abortions percentage-wise:. While most abortions occur before 8 weeks, second or third trimester abortions are also options women may have. These are the most common reasons an abortion may occur during the second or third trimester:.
Clinton was misled by his medical advisers on what is fact and what is fiction in reference to late-term abortions. Because in no way can I twist my mind to see that the late-term abortion as described -- you know, partial birth, and then destruction of the unborn child before the head is born -- is a medical necessity for the mother. It certainly can't be a medical necessity for the baby. Surgeon General C.
0コメント