Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Headed to Supreme Court After Bush Appeal

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Bush administration on Monday appealed a federal appeals court's decision declaring the national ban on partial-birth abortions unconstitutional. The appellate court said the ban on partial-birth abortions should be struck down because it lacks a "health exception." After President Bush signed the ban in 2003, abortion advocates took it to court in three separate cases. District court judges ruled the ban unconstitutional in all three and 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited a prior Supreme Court decision saying the ban needs a health exception. The Bush administration brief argues that Congress' findings should be respected, namely that it heard from numerous doctors that said the three-day long abortion procedure is never necessary to protect a woman's health. "Congress received oral and written testimony from experts who stated that partial-birth abortion was not necessary to preserve the health of the mother in any circumstances," the brief said. Solicitor General Paul Clement said the nation's top court should take the case. "This case involves the constitutionality of a significant act of Congress that has been invalidated and permanently enjoined by the lower courts," Clement said in the brief. If the high court grant's the president's request for a review of the decision, it would be the second time it has looked at partial-birth abortions. Read the complete story.