The term "partial-birth abortion" refers generally to an abortion procedure where the fetus is removed intact from a woman's body. Intact dilation and evacuation involves a vertex or "head first" presentation, the induced dilation of the cervix, the collapsing of the skull, and the extraction of the entire fetus through the cervix. Although many of these laws have not taken effect because of temporary or permanent injunctions, they remain contentious to both pro-life advocates and those who support a woman's right to choose.
Supreme Court's decision in Stenberg v. Carhart , a case involving the constitutionality of Nebraska's partial-birth abortion ban statute. In Stenberg , the Court invalidated the Nebraska statute because it lacked an exception for the performance of the partial-birth abortion procedure when necessary to protect the health of the mother, and because it imposed an undue burden on a woman's ability to have an abortion.
This report also reviews various legislative attempts to restrict partial-birth abortions during the th , th , and th Congresses. On April 18, , the Court upheld the act, finding that, as a facial matter, it is not unconstitutionally vague and does not impose an undue burden on a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy.
Carhart , the Court distinguished the federal statute from the Nebraska law at issue in Stenberg. Since , at least thirty-one states have enacted laws banning the so-called "partial-birth" abortion procedure. Although many of these laws have not taken effect because of permanent injunctions, they remain contentious to both pro-life advocates and those who support a woman's right to choose.
Congress passed bans on the partial-birth abortion procedure in both the th and th Congresses. The measure was signed by the President on November 5, The U. Supreme Court has also addressed the performance of partial-birth abortions. In Stenberg v. Carhart , a case, the Court invalidated a Nebraska statute that prohibited the performance of such abortions. Prior to this decision, the U. Courts of Appeals remained divided on the legitimacy of state statutes banning partial-birth abortions.
Carhart , a case, the Court upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of , finding that, as a facial matter, it is not unconstitutionally vague and does not impose an undue burden on a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. The Supreme Court has held that a woman has a constitutional right to choose whether to terminate her pregnancy. Casey , the Court expanded a state's authority to regulate abortion by permitting regulation at the pre-viability stage so long as such regulation does not place an "undue burden" on a woman's ability to have an abortion.
During the first trimester, the most common method of abortion is suction curettage. The embryo or fetus is separated from the placenta either by scraping or vacuum pressure before being removed by suction.
Induction may be performed either early in the pregnancy or in the second trimester. In this procedure, the fetus is forced from the uterus by inducing preterm labor. Fetal parts are later removed from the uterus either with forceps or by suction. In Women ' s Medical Professional Corporation v. Voinovich , the U. In both procedures, the fetal head must be compressed, because it is usually too large to pass through a woman's dilated cervix.
Plaintiffs challenging partial-birth abortion statutes have generally sought the invalidation of such statutes on the basis of two arguments: first, that the statutes are unconstitutionally vague, and second, that the statutes are unconstitutional because they impose an undue burden on a woman's ability to obtain an abortion.
The Supreme Court has held that an enactment is void for vagueness if its prohibitions are not clearly defined. The undue burden standard was adopted by the Court in Casey. In that case, the Court held that a state could enact abortion regulations at the pre-viability stage so long as an "undue burden" is not placed on a woman's ability to have an abortion.
Any regulation which "has the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion" creates an undue burden and is invalid. The Sixth Circuit was the first to consider whether a ban on partial-birth abortions imposes an undue burden on a woman's ability to have an abortion. Carhart , a Nebraska physician who performed abortions at a specialized abortion facility sought a declaration that Nebraska's partial-birth abortion ban statute violated the U.
No partial birth abortion shall be performed in this state, unless such procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.
The term "partial birth abortion" was defined by the statute as "an abortion procedure in which the person performing the abortion partially delivers vaginally a living unborn child before killing the unborn child and completing the delivery. In addition, a doctor who violated the statute was subject to the automatic revocation of his license to practice medicine in Nebraska.
Among his arguments, Dr. Because the Nebraska legislature failed to provide a definition for "substantial portion," the U. The doctor delivers a substantial portion of the living child outside his mother's body the entire head in a head-first delivery or the trunk past the navel in a feet-first delivery then kills the child by crushing his skull or removing his brain by suction. Some abortion doctors use PBA in the middle and last months of pregnancy, when dismembering a child becomes more difficult due to the child's stronger bones and ligaments.
After the mother undergoes two to three days of cervical dilation increasing her risk of infection and subsequent preterm births , the doctor in minutes can partially deliver the child "intact" before killing him or her and completing delivery. In the more commonly used dismemberment method, the mother's cervix is dilated manually only enough to remove the child's severed body parts; dismemberment and removal takes the doctor longer to complete.
In Carhart I the Supreme Court treated PBA as just another method of abortion, largely ignoring the fact the the child is almost completely delivered when he or she is killed.
Yet even when the Court struck down Texas's abortion statute in Roe, it had left standing a provision of Texas law that prohibited killing a child in the process of being delivered.
Such laws exist in most states but they generally have two deficiencies. In this method, the fetus is moved into a breech position, the brain is removed from the cranium of the fetus, and then the cranium is sometimes crushed in order to move the fetus through the cervix more easily. Due to the manner in which the Connecticut Department of Health records abortion procedures, there is no way to determine for sure whether this particular abortion procedure is being used in this state.
A close look at the types of abortion that the Department of Health records and the gestation periods in which abortions are performed indicates that if this procedure is being used, it is extremely uncommon. Women have a right to have an abortion up to viability and also after viability if the procedure is necessary to protect a woman ' s life or health.
Section 19a requires that physicians provide counseling to women seeking abortion but does not mandate parental notification or parental consent. There is currently no law directly addressing partial birth abortion in the state of Connecticut. However, last year HB No.
The bill died in the Judiciary Committee. There is no sure way to determine whether partial birth abortions are being performed in Connecticut. There are two reasons for this. First, there is no single definition of what constitutes such an abortion.
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