A Resurgence of Partial-Birth Abortions and Infanticide

Federal and state governments are once again attempting to enhance the scope of abortion.  They are now considering making forms of infanticide and “partial-birth abortion” legal.  Partial-birth abortions are illegal and have been banned.  The law reads;

Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit any physician or other individual from knowingly performing a partial-birth abortion, except when necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury.

Defines a "partial-birth abortion" as an abortion in which the person performing the abortion: (1) deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the mother's body, or, in the case of a breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the mother's body; and (2) performs the overt act, other than completion of delivery, that kills the partially delivered living fetus.

Authorizes the father, if married to the mother at the time of the abortion, and the maternal grandparents of the fetus, if the mother is under 18 years of age, to obtain specified relief in a civil action, unless the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented to the abortion.

Authorizes a defendant accused of an offense under this Act to seek a hearing before the State Medical Board on whether the physician's conduct was necessary to save the life of the mother.

Prohibits the prosecution of a woman upon whom a partial-birth abortion is performed for conspiracy to violate this Act or under provisions regarding punishment as a principal or an accessory or for concealment of a felony.

However, according to the ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) several states are considering ignoring the Federal ban;

“The state of New York passed one of the most barbaric abortion laws in U.S. history, essentially making it legal to abort a baby at any stage of pregnancy, up to the moment of birth. It even removes legal protections for babies born alive from botched abortions. . .  Maryland is considering bills that could allow infanticide – preventing even an investigation where a born-alive infant dies up to 28 days AFTER the baby is born”.

Also, according to the ACLJ, California is trying to euphemize the term “abortion”.  California Assembly Bill 2223 contains a provision preventing any person from being subject to civil or criminal liability “based on actions or omissions with respect to their . . . alleged pregnancy outcome, including . . . perinatal death.” Understand  that the “perinatal” period covers roughly from 28 weeks of pregnancy to 1-4 weeks post birth.

Thankfully, some reason has raised its voice. The Chief Counsel for the pro-abortion majority California State Assembly Committee on Judiciary, stating that “the ‘perinatal death’ language could lead to an unintended and undesirable conclusion.” The analysis goes on to say that the bill.  The Chief Counsel states;

[The bill] may not be sufficiently clear that ‘perinatal death’ is intended to be the consequence of a pregnancy complication. Thus, the bill could be interpreted to immunize a pregnant person from all criminal penalties for all pregnancy related outcomes, including the death of a newborn for any reason during the ‘perinatal’ period after birth, including a cause of death which is not attributable to pregnancy complications . . . It could in fact effectively legalize infanticide.

Pro-life activists have found the remains of fetuses near Washington DC. Medical professionals and pro-life groups insist that “illegal and gruesome” procedures were performed.  However, no autopsy will be performed because Police have deemed these apparent legal abortions.  Also, Washington DC does not have a specific law banning abortion at any point in the pregnancy.  This allows abortions through the entire nine-month gestation period.

We, as Catholics, need to raise our voices against such acts.  Church injunctions against such procedures have been traced to the Apostolic Age. Bioethically, the argument for acts such as partial-birth abortions have NO LEGITIMATE reason.  Supporters claim it must be kept JUST IN CASE a situation arises in which the life of the mother is at risk.  The counter question is simple, if the mother is under such stress, why put her through the further stress of labor and just perform a c-section?  Therefore, we must contact our elected representatives and tell them to end these outrageous actions.