More on Partial-Birth

For more on the partial-birth question, look no further than Carhart v. Stenberg, the 2000 decision overturning Nebraska's partial-birth abortion law. There were multiple problems with it, especially that it had no health exception and was overly broad. On the broadness issue, see O'Connor's concurrence:

Nebraska’s statute is unconstitutional on the alternative and independent ground that it imposes an undue burden on a woman’s right to choose to terminate her pregnancy before viability. Nebraska’s ban covers not just the dilation and extraction (D&X) procedure, but also the dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedure, “the most commonly used method for performing previability second trimester abortions.”

I won't go into the details on the various kinds of procedures (read Breyer's opinion if you want them), but here's an edited passage from the amicus brief filed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:

“Depending on the physician’s skill and experience, the D&X procedure can be the most appropriate abortion procedure for some women in some circumstances. D&X presents a variety of potential safety advantages over other abortion procedures used during the same gestational period.... That D&X procedures usually take less time than other abortion methods used at a comparable stage of pregnancy can also have health advantages. The shorter the procedure, the less blood loss, trauma, and exposure to anesthesia... Especially for women with particular health conditions, there is medical evidence that D&X may be safer than available alternatives.”

I don't know if any of that is helpful, but that's what the court focused on in when it last saw these laws.

I'll tell you what, the thing that gets me is the Congressional activity. Of all the legislative bodies in America that ought not be regulating a woman's right to choose, Congress is at the top of the list. Drugs and abortion, Republicans love the feds.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the bill. From my cursory look, I see an exception for life of the mother but not health. If that's true, I don't see it passing muster with this court. I can't decipher whether it has the same problems re: vagueness of prohibited procedures.