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'Partial-birth' ban made law
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Wednesday signed the first federal restrictions on an abortion procedure in three decades. Bush's signature prompted a quick legal challenge.
The law bans a controversial late-term procedure that critics call "partial-birth abortion." Bush said the procedure was "a terrible form of violence."Related audio: Bush explains ban)

"Today, at last, the American people and our government have confronted the violence and come to the defense of the innocent child," he said.

The restriction became law in a climate of renewed debate over abortion.

In Lincoln, Neb., U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf issued a temporary restraining order blocking the ban. He said his order would apply only to four doctors who filed a lawsuit, but the ruling could extend beyond Nebraska because they are also licensed in Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, New York, South Carolina and Virginia.

Last week, abortion rights activists asked courts in New York and California to stop the ban.

Bush said the administration will "vigorously defend" the law.

Supporters of abortion rights called the law the first step in an assault on all abortions that will accelerate if Bush has a chance to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court with an abortion opponent. The high court's last major abortion decision, which threw out a Nebraska ban on the late-term procedure, was decided in 2000 on a 5-4 vote.

The law prohibits any "overt act" to kill a fetus that has been partially delivered. It permits no exceptions when a woman's health is at risk or a fetus has life-threatening disabilities.

Supporters of the ban say it outlaws only "intact dilation and extraction," in which a doctor collapses the fetus' skull inside the womb to allow removal of the intact fetus through the cervix. Opponents say the law is worded vaguely and would also prevent doctors performing a procedure called "dilation and evacuation," which accounts for more than 90% of abortions performed in the USA after the first trimester of pregnancy. In dilation and evacuation, a physician dilates the cervix, then inserts a clamp or forceps through it to extract the fetus. As the fetus is pulled out, it is torn into pieces.

Kopf said the law has a "serious vagueness problem."

Both houses of Congress passed the ban nearly 2-to-1. Members of both parties, including some who usually defend abortion rights, voted with the majority. In a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Oct. 24-26, 68% of respondents said the procedure should be illegal.

Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, called the new law "a major step towards creating conditions to end legal abortion." Doug Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee said he hopes she's right.

Bush faces a delicate political challenge. He opposes abortion, but he said last week that the nation is not ready for a total ban. He wants conservatives who oppose abortion and are his most loyal supporters to know he's on their side, but he doesn't want to alienate everyone else.

The reactions of Democratic presidential candidates reflected their competition for the votes of abortion rights supporters.

Wesley Clark said Bush wants "to return this country to the dark days" before abortion was legalized in 1973. Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt voted in favor of the ban last year, when the legislation died in Congress. This year, Gephardt missed the vote and said he wouldn't support the bill unless it included an exception for the woman's health.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted against the legislation. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry did, too. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards missed the vote but said he opposed the bill.