| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT:
|
| October 2, 2003 |
Kate Dwyer: 202-226-7326
|
House
Votes to Ban Partial-Birth Abortions
WASHINGTON,
DC – First District Congressman Paul Ryan today voted in favor of the final
version of a bill to ban the partial-birth abortion procedure.
The House passed this legislation – S. 3, the Partial-Birth Abortion
Ban of 2003 Conference Report – by a vote of 281-142.
This legislation has already been approved in conference committee with
the Senate, and the full Senate is expected to consider the same legislation in
the coming weeks.
“I
think we should all be able to agree on putting an end to partial-birth abortion
– a brutal, unethical procedure,” Ryan said. “The fact that this is still going on in our society is
abominable. This ban is long
overdue. Partial-birth abortion is
indefensible from both a moral and a medical standpoint.
It poses serious risks to women, and – as a leader at the American
Medical Association put it – the procedure is ‘not good medicine.’ ”
Partial-birth
abortion is a procedure where a pregnant woman’s cervix is forcibly dilated,
then her unborn baby is pulled through the birth canal until his or her body,
except for the head, is outside the womb. The
abortionist penetrates the base of the child’s skull with scissors and either
the skull is crushed with instruments or a suction catheter is inserted and the
brain is suctioned out, ending the life of the child.
An abortionist who violates the ban would be subject to fines or a maximum of two years imprisonment, or both. The bill also establishes a civil cause of action for damages against an abortionist who violates the ban. The legislation includes an exception for a partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the life of the mother.
To address the concerns raised by the U.S. Supreme Court in Stenberg v. Carhart – the case striking down the Nebraska ban – this legislation differs from previously approved partial-birth abortion bans in two areas:It contains a new, more precise definition of the prohibited procedure which gives physicians clear anatomical landmarks to address the Court’s concerns that Nebraska’s definition was vague.