On January 22, President Bush called partial-birth abortion an "abhorrent procedure that offends human dignity." He also urged Congress to pass the ban in his January 28 State of the Union speech. A January Gallup poll found that 70 percent of the public favors the ban.

On March 13, the U.S. Senate approved its version of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (S. 3). Once the House completes action on its version (H.R. 760), a House-Senate conference committee will be named to work out final language. (The Senate added the Harkin Amendment, an endorsement of Roe v. Wade, to its version, and pro-life forces want that amendment removed in the conference committee.) After the conference committee produces a final version, it must be approved by both houses before it is sent to President Bush for his signature. These final steps could take some weeks.

Following Senate approval of the ban in March, NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson commented, "President Bush, 70 percent of the public, 64 senators, and four Supreme Court justices say there is no constitutional right to deliver most of a living baby and then puncture her head with a scissors. But five Supreme Court justices have said that partial-birth abortion is protected by Roe v. Wade. We hope that by the time this ban reaches the Supreme Court, at least five justices will be willing to reject such extremism in defense of abortion."

The prime sponsor of the House bill is Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio). It is also strongly supported by the top House Republican leadership and by House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wi.) The prime sponsor of the Senate version is Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE: Make sure that your House member understands the importance you place on this issue. Urge him or her to oppose the Hoyer-Greenwood "phony ban" substitute, and to support the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 760). To send a fast, easy e-mail on this bill to your U.S. representative, you can use the NRLC Legislative Action Center. After reading the alert message, enter your zip code, and a suggested e-mail message to your representative in favor of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act will be displayed. You can send the message directly from the NRLC site. To obtain telephone or fax numbers, click "Elected Officials," choose your state, and click through to the profile of an individual representative. In the alternative, just go to the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org. Under the prominent heading "Legislative Action Center," enter your zip code into the box, and you will automatically be provided with a button to obtain "Info" on your representative, including the phone numbers of his or her Washington and in-state offices and the fax numbers.

• ENCOURAGE PUBLIC DISCUSSION: Use any available public forum, such as call-in radio talk shows and internet discussion boards, to reopen the subject of partial-birth abortion. Encourage local talk-radio hosts and journalists to devote some time to this issue during the days just ahead. NRLC spokespersons are available for interviews and broadcast debates on partial-birth abortion (as well as other issues currently under debate in Congress, such as the Unborn Victims of Violence Act).

• WATCH FOR "MEDIA MYTHS" ABOUT PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION: Some journalists and editorial writers are again propagating claims that partial-birth abortions are performed mostly or only in cases in which the mother’s life or physical health are in dire jeopardy, or the baby has profound disorders -- even though these claims were thoroughly discredited in 1996 and 1997 by investigative journalists and by the executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers. It is well established that the method is used thousands of times annually and that the vast majority of partial-birth abortions are performed on healthy babies of healthy mothers. When you see such discredited claims, challenge them, using information from memos by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson, Revival of Some Old Media Myths About Roe v. Wade and Partial-Birth Abortion and from Recent Developments on Partial-Birth Abortion, both posted at www.nrlc.org on the front page. Also, please send sightings of such "media myths" to the attention of the NRLC Federal Legislation Department at 512-10th Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 20004, fax 202-347-3668, e-mail: Legfederal@aol.com.

• WATCH FOR "MEDIA MYTHS" ABOUT ROE V. WADE. In addition, some old myths about Roe v. Wade are currently undergoing a revival in some news media reports. For example, some journalists and pollsters are still telling the public that the Supreme Court legalized abortion "in the first three months of pregnancy." This characterization was always gravely inaccurate, but it is more ridiculous than even ever since the 2000 case of Stenberg v. Carhart, in which five justices ruled that Roe v. Wade covers even partial-birth abortion -- a method never used in the first three months of pregnancy. When you see this myth or other such myths about Roe v. Wade, challenge them, using documentation from the memo Revival of Some Old Myths About Roe v. Wade and Partial-Birth Abortion. And again, please call such "media myth" outbreaks to the attention of NRLC as described above.

RESOURCES

"Recent Developments on Partial-Birth Abortion" is a memo containing details on the current congressional situation, recently reported statistics on partial-birth abortion, and other up-to-date information, posted here: www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/PartialBirthAbortionRecentDevelopments.html

Also viewable on the website is a series of color illustrations of the partial-birth abortion method, certified by eminent medical authorities to be completely accurate, here: www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/PBA_Images/PBA_Images_Heathers_Place.htm

A basic resource, "Key Facts on Partial-Birth Abortion," is posted here: www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/keyfactsPBA.htm

The archive also contains NRLC's in-depth testimony presented to Congress, with citations to primary sources: www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/test.html

VSHL is the Virginia affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee.