Except for Four Abortionists Who Immediately Filed Suit Against the Ban
"[Partial-birth abortion] 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."
-- President George W. Bush on signing the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (Nov. 5, 2003)
By Jody Brown and Bill Fancher
November 5, 2003
(AgapePress) - It was a long time coming for pro-lifers. Many of them who had devoted years of effort in defense of the unborn had reason to celebrate on Wednesday as President Bush signed into law the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.
"For years, a terrible form of violence has been directed against children who are inches from birth, while the law looked the other way," the president said moments before signing the measure that bans partial-birth abortion in America. "Today, at last, the American people and our government have confronted the violence and come to the defense of the innocent child."
Flanked by congressional leaders who had backed the legislation -- among them primary sponsors Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Representative Steve Chabot of Ohio -- the president said the "best case against partial-birth abortion is a simple description of what happens and to whom it happens."
"The facts about partial-birth abortion are troubling and tragic -- and no lawyer's brief can make them seem otherwise," Bush said. And in a tribute to the sanctity of life, he stated that 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."
Read President Bush's Entire Speech
Pro-Life Reaction
Pro-life groups are welcoming Bush's signature on the bill that bans the heinous procedure. Peggy Hartshorn of Heartbeat International is one of those who is glad the law is finally in place. But despite the victory on that particular pro-life front, abortions still occur. "It's finally time -- but as pro-lifers and as Christians, we have to remember that every abortion kills a developing baby and harms the mom," she says.
Hartshorn believes that enactment of the PBA ban -- along with other recent developments in the pro-life movement -- demonstrate just how successful pro-lifers have been.
"The partial-birth abortion ban, the [battle for the live of] Terri Schiavo, and the YWCA firing of [pro-abortion] Patricia Ireland are instances where we are seeing some of the fruits of what we have been trying to do for so long," she says.
Hartshorn's organization is coming off its national conference, held last weekend in Omaha, Nebraska. The theme of that gathering was based on a biblical passage found in the sixth chapter of the Book of Galatians which promises a "harvest of blessing" for those who work for God.
 Wendy Wright |
"We need to look at the net effect of the debate over partial-birth abortion, and how this debate plays into our culture [and] how it has affected the culture's view on the sanctity of human life," Wright says. She contends that debate has had a very positive effect. "It has helped to portray to people what abortion actually is -- it gets it outside the realm of rhetoric that abortion is just a woman's right to choose, brings it into the realm of reality, [and conveys] what abortion does to an unborn or partially-born baby."
In other words, Wright says, this fight will only be won one battle at a time -- and the PBA ban is considered by many to be a huge victory. But this particular victory may still be in jeopardy. Several lawsuits are already pending against the legislation, some of them contending it outlaws a procedure that is sometimes medically necessary by abortionists.
Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America, notes that the American Medical Association has stated there is no reason why the partial-birth abortion procedure is medically necessary. "This procedure endangers a woman's health for the sake of an abortionist's convenience," she says. "There is no excuse for this disregard for a woman's safety."
And CWA's chief counsel explains what she feels is the real reason behind the lawsuits. "The abortion lobby couldn't win in Congress, so they're taking the case to court in hopes that an activist judge somewhere will overthrow the will of the people," says Jan LaRue. "If judges remain impartial and true to the Constitution, the ban will stand."
Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson applauds the ban on partial-birth abortion -- and like LaRue, is hopeful any constitutional challenge will be swept aside. "We hope that the courts being asked to rule on the constitutionality of this law will see what millions of Americans so plainly see: that the notions of liberty and justice cannot be twisted to convey to us the right to murder our pre-born children -- especially when they are mere inches away from birth," he says.
The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, Dobson says, is "a step toward ending our culture of infanticide."
Injunction Filed
Apparently a pro-abortion activist judge resides in Lincoln, Nebraska. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf issued a temporary injunction against the PBA ban moments after it was signed by the president. Lifenews.com reports that Kopf considers the law "highly suspect" and says it should have included a health exception.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft requested that Kopf defer to Congress' findings that the procedure is not medically necessary -- but the judge stopped short of prohibiting the law nationwide, saying his injunction only applies to the four abortionists who filed the lawsuit. One of those individuals is LeRoy Carhart of Nebraska -- the same abortionist at the center of a Supreme Court decision in 2000 that ruled Nebraska's ban on partial-birth abortion was unconstitutional.
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