Monday, November 24, 2008

Late-Term Abortion & The First Limit on Roe Since 1973

Late-term abortion is an issue that divides even some pro-abortion advocates and individuals. Part of the reason late-term abortion is so controversial is because it gets at the crux of the argument as to “when life begins”— something invariably difficult to define and therefore difficult to legislate.

WATCH: Interview with Bree Wellwood, volunteer coordinator for the Haven Coalition an organization in New York City that provides shelter to women forced to travel to New York for late-term abortions:



Roe Vs. Wade protects a woman’s right to have an abortion up until the fetus is viable outside of the woman’s womb (albeit with artificial aid). This is defined under Roe as being up to 24-28 weeks. Under the Bush administration, late term abortion became threatened with the arrival of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.

The act prohibits a form of late-term abortion that is medically referred to as intact dilation and extraction. The term “partial birth abortion” is not a medical term.

Under this law, "Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." The law was enacted in 2003, and in 2007 its constitutionality was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Gonzales v. Carhart.

It is the first limit on abortion since Roe Vs. Wade was passed in 1973.

Since the bill's passage, it has been reported that doctors have continued performing late-term abortions, but have started injecting the fetus with lethal drugs before performing the abortion, so that they can't be charged with performing an intact dilation and extraction procedure. According to The Boston Globe, "some doctors say it poses a slight risk to the woman and offers her no medical benefit."