The following statement was issued by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, June 1, 2004, at 2:30 p.m. ET. For further information, call 202-626-8825, send e-mail to Legfederal@aol.com, or visit the NRLC  website at http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/index.html

Statement  by National Right to Life on Injunction Against Partial-Birth Abortion Ban  Act:

WASHINGTON (June 1, 2004) -- What follows is a comment from the  National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) in Washington, D.C., regarding a  development in the legal proceedings related to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which was signed into law by President Bush last November. The Bush Administration is currently defending the law against three separate legal challenges in three different federal district courts.

Today's  development occurred in a lawsuit against the law brought by the Planned  Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) in the federal district court in San  Francisco. U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton issued a permanent  injunction against enforcement of the ban with respect to the groups that filed that lawsuit. This would apply primarily to affiliates of the  PPFA.

Judge Hamilton found that the federal ban on partial-birth abortion ran contrary to U.S. Supreme Court rulings, especially Stenberg v. Carhart, handed down in 2000. In Stenberg, five Supreme Court justices said that Roe v. Wade required states to allow an abortionist to perform a partial-birth abortion essentially whenever he sees fit. "Judge Hamilton's deep personal hostility to the law has been evident throughout the judicial  proceedings, and is evident in many passages in her 117-page injunction," said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. "Other district and  appellate judges also will be heard from during the months ahead. It is the U.S. Supreme Court that will ultimately decide whether our elected representatives can ban the practice of mostly delivering a living premature infant and then puncturing her skull. A one-vote shift on the Supreme Court would allow the ban on partial-birth
abortions to be upheld."

The  National Right to Life Committee maintains the most comprehensive collection  of documentation on partial-birth abortion available anywhere on the Internet, at http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/index.html For  a good primer on what the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act does and does not  do, and on other disputed issues pertaining to partial-birth abortion, see  the memo "Partial-Birth Abortion: Misconceptions and Realities," here: http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/PBAall110403.html

A  collection of key documents pertinent to medical issues surrounding partial-birth abortion are posted here: http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/keymedical.html Although  Congress justified the ban in part its finding that the partial-birth abortion method would cause excruciating pain to the partly born infant, Judge Hamilton dismissed this factor as "irrelevant," saying that even if it is true it also would apply to dismemberment of the fetus at the same stages. On May 20, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Ks.) and Congressman Chris Smith  (R-NJ) introduced the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act. This bill would  require that abortions provide women seeking any type of abortion past 20  weeks with certain information regarding the capacity of their unborn children to experience pain and regarding the availability of pain-reducing  drugs. For more information on the bill and on the issue of fetal pain, see http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/fetal_pain/index.html

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