Partial Birth Abortion Ban

Another court has struck down the partial birth abortion ban. The court struck the law down as unconstitutional "because it does not contain an exception to protect a woman's health, something the Supreme Court said is required in laws prohibiting types of abortion." This has been the sticking point for opponents every time the Republicans have proposed this legislation.

Multiple times during the Clinton presidency (election years usually), they passed the bill only to have Clinton veto it. Why did he veto it? It contained no provision for the mother's health, something they refused to add. If they had added this provision, required by the Supreme Court to pass consitutional muster, Clinton would have signed it, or so he implied.

In the version that was finally enacted, they included a conclusion that "partial birth abortion is never medically indicated to preserve the health of the mother; is in fact unrecognized as a valid abortion procedure by the mainstream medical community; [and] poses additional risks to the mother." So, the exception would be meaningless since they conclude it is never medically necessary. If it's meaningless, then they could easily have put it in to pass constitutional muster. But the Republicans again refused.

You see, contrary to the rhetoric, this ban is not about saving lives or stopping an abhorrent procedure. It's about politics and posturing for the Republican base. The Republicans could have easily ended partial birth abortion long ago, and certainly in the Bush years, by putting in the exceptions required by the constitution (as interpreted by the Supreme Court), exceptions that by their own admission are meaningless and irrelevant. But the Republicans apparently don't see any value or gain in actually doing something.