While I'm still skeptical about whether the Federal government should be passing abortion legislation, I'm happy to see that partial birth abortions have been banned.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate on Tuesday voted to ban the practice that critics call partial birth abortion, sending President Bush a measure that supporters and foes alike said could alter the future of U.S. abortion rights. A court challenge is certain.Years in the making, the bill imposes the most far-reaching limits on abortion since the Supreme Court in 1973 confirmed a woman's right to end a pregnancy.
"This is an enormous day. It's been a long seven-year fight about the issue of partial birth abortion," said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. He was a leader of the drive to end abortions, generally carried out in the second or third trimester, in which a fetus is partially delivered before being killed.
"This is very important legislation that will end an abhorrent practice and continue to build a culture of life in America," Bush said in a statement.
I'm sure we'll find out whether the courts think this is constitutional. What will be interesting to see is whether opponents of the law will even raise the states rights issue. Since most liberals have so much tied up in the idea of forcing their views on the nation from the top down, I doubt it.
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