Momentum in defending human life in the womb may be shifting. On April 1 President Bush signed into law the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 1997). The administration is also vigorously defending in federal courts the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.
H.R. 1997 represents the first time the U.S. government has recognized a human embryo or fetus as an individual. The law makes it a federal offense to injure or kill an unborn child during the commission of a federal crime.
“It’s very significant,” said Wendy Wright, senior policy director at Concerned Women for America. “For the last 30 years, the law has been silent on the issue of forced abortion by a third party.”
Clark Forsythe, president of Americans United For Life, predicted the new law, known as “Laci and Conner’s Law,” would influence bills in state legislatures. Currently 31 states have fetal homicide bills. However, only 16 of those protect the unborn child at all stages of gestation, according to AUL. The new law applies to crimes committed on federal property and in areas subject to federal jurisdiction. It is not known how many such cases occur annually.
Concerning the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, in late March federal district courts in San Francisco, Omaha, and New York each began trials to determine whether the ban conforms to the Supreme Court’s June 2000 ruling in Stenberg v. Carhart. That ruling struck down a similar Nebraska law and invalidated laws in 29 other states.
At issue is whether the U.S. Justice Department can prove that the federal ban would outlaw only one type of abortion method, called intact dilation and extraction. In this procedure, a child’s head is pulled from its mother’s birth canal and crushed, with the brain subsequently sucked out. Litigants are arguing whether such a procedure is needed to protect a woman’s health. An estimated 640 to 5,000 such abortions occur every year.
“There’s been a lot of good evidence, and fetal pain was one of the issues for the ban to be put in place,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. “Here we have a procedure that is excruciating and deadly to a baby.”
A government witness in the Nebraska case, Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, testified that the unborn can feel pain at 20 weeks of gestation. Sekulow, also an adviser to the Justice Department, said the government has emphasized fetal pain to prove that the state has a compelling interest in protecting prenatal life.
LeRoy Carhart, the physician who successfully asked the Supreme Court to strike down the Nebraska ban, testified that the act would block nearly all abortions beyond the first trimester.
Observers expect rulings in all three cases by August or September. Sekulow said, however, that the federal ban will probably wind up back in the Supreme Court sometime next year or in 2006.
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Related Elsewhere:
More on the Unborn Victims of Violence and Partial-birth Abortion Ban acts include:
Weblog: ‘The United States of America Is Building a Culture of Life’ (April 02, 2004)
Q & A: Bill Frist | The Senate Majority Leader on key moral issues. (March 24, 2004)
Will the Partial-birth Abortion Ban Save Lives? | Most prolife groups say the ban in itself is not what is important. (Oct. 23, 2003)
Prolife Groups Ready to Defend Partial-Birth Abortion Ban | Court challenge to new law expected. (July 14, 2003)
House Votes to Ban Partial-Birth Abortion (June 05, 2003)
Senate Likely to Pass Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Thursday (March 11, 2003)
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Reruns (March 13, 2003)
Senate Bans Partial-Birth Abortion (March 13, 2003)
Prolife Advocates Herald Partial-Birth Abortion Ban | President Bush promises to sign May 13 Senate bill. (April 23, 2003)
The New Partial-Birth Abortion Bill and Old Myths | Unconstitutional? Rare? Dangerous? Don’t believe the disinformation campaign. (Feb. 24, 2003)
Weblog: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Introduced in U.S. House (Feb. 14, 2003)
House Passes Partial-Birth Abortion Ban. Again. (July 26, 2002)
Fetal Harm Bill Moves to Senate | Legislation is first of several bills backed by prolife groups. (April 30, 2001)
