The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 was a Congressional Act that successfully prohibited the procedure that opponents refer to as partial-birth abortion. The Act declared the procedure an unlawful act and defined it as any abortion procedure in which the person performing the procedure “deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living unborn child” up to the navel of the pregnant woman “for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living unborn child.”
This Act amended an earlier law that prohibited the procedure from 1995, but did not specify an exact definition of the procedure. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 specified the allowed exceptions to the ban, which include medical procedures needed to save the life of the mother, or to prevent permanent damage to the mother’s health. Opponents of the Act feel that it limits women’s access to abortion, but supporters point out that there are other safe and legal alternatives.
Although not all abortion procedures are affected by the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, this Act does limit access to a controversial and specific procedure. The Act itself serves as an example of legislative action and is widely known as a result. To this day, it continues to remain an important point of discussion within the political and legal landscape of the United States.