U.S. Supreme Court Got It Right -- There Are Limits to Abortion

Summary

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On April 18, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed in 2003. The 5-4 decision in Gonzales v. Carhart has generated a lot of excited rhetoric and confusing commentary. Five considerations may clarify the ruling.

First, there is no confusion about the abortion procedure that is banned by the act. Partial birth abortion ("PBA," also called "intact D&E" or "D&X" abortion) is performed in mid- and late- pregnancy (after the fetus is at least 16 weeks old, and sometimes much later). The fetus is substantially delivered from the mother's body (either the entire head is out or, in a breach birth, the entire trunk to the navel of the baby is out). Then the doctor stops the delivery and deliberately kills the half-delivered baby by sticking scissors into the base of the head and (usually) suctioning out the brains of the half-delivered child.

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Extract

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U.S. Supreme Court Got It Right -- There Are Limits to Abortion

Quoting congressional findings, the justices in Gonzales described this abortion procedure as "brutal and inhumane" and having "a disturbing similarity to the killing of a newborn infant." The majority...

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