鈥淭HE US is backing away from what was once a core principle 鈥� that a woman鈥檚 health matters.鈥� So says Alta Charo, professor of law at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, on the banning on 18 April of a form of late-term abortion dubbed 鈥減artial-birth鈥� abortion. There is no exception for the health of the mother, unless her life is in danger. Many women seeking late-term abortions are those who have had amniocentesis and have discovered genetic abnormalities.
鈥淭he US is backing away from a core principle 鈥� that a woman鈥檚 health matters鈥�
The procedure involves partially delivering the fetus, before collapsing its skull and then removing the fetus entirely. In 2000, only 2200 of the 1.3 million abortions performed in the US used this method. A more widely used late-term method, which involves dismembering the fetus inside the womb, is still legal.
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The US Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to uphold the ban, which was proposed by President Bush in 2003 after a similar law was struck down in 2000 as unconstitutional. Doctors who perform the abortion procedure could now face criminal prosecution, fines and up to two years in prison.
