Partial-Birth Abortion is an especially inhuman and gruesome method of abortion where a child is pulled from the mother's womb to the point where either the head is fully exposed or, as is more often the case, in a breech manner where the child's body is extracted up to the neck. The baby is then killed by having a pair of scissors shoved into the back of his head and the brains suctioned out. For more information concerning this procedure visit the Priests for Life website's page on Partial-Birth Abortion at -

 http://www.priestsforlife.org/partialbirth.html

On November 8^th 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban. A reading of the transcripts of this case shows how grossly our elected officials have failed us. Even if the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban survives the judicial challenge it will not save any lives. The defending arguments in the case before the Supreme Court never even touch upon the value of life or the inhumanity of killing an innocent child, but instead focuses on what point in the abortion process the baby should be killed. In the language of the law an abortionist cannot deliver a baby’s full head, or in the case of a breech delivery, past the child’s naval with the intent to kill the child. The lawyer defending the ban even suggests that doctors can inject digoxin or potassium chloride into the heart of the fetus at the onset of the procedure to cause fetal demise while still in the mother’s womb. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, as written, does not save lives; it just prevents the abortionist from extracting the child beyond a certain point before killing it.

What is good about the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban?

It is a blow to Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other abortion rights groups who demand complete unrestricted access to abortion for anybody at anytime no matter what. Unless the Court strikes it down, this ban will be the first federal restriction, of any kind, on abortion since Roe v. Wade. Also, as Father Pavone of Priests for Life, points out. It is a simple step to move from aborting a baby partially born to aborting a baby fully born. And, that is a step that is being already being advocated.