Five men
"April 18 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law that makes it a crime to perform ``partial birth'' abortions, allowing the first nationwide ban on a procedure as two justices named by President George W. Bush tipped the balance.
The justices, voting 5-4, said the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act is constitutional even though it lacks an exception for cases posing a risk to the mother's health. The court also rejected claims that the law is so vaguely worded it would force doctors to forgo a commonly used, constitutionally protected abortion technique for fear of prosecution." (emphasis mine)
The late-term abortion procedure has become a hot issue because the fundies would have us believe that after carrying a pregnancy for 36 weeks, "frivolous" women wake up one day in a bad mood, decide "I don't want to do this anymore" and have an abortion. This is such a stenchy, steaming crock of bullshit. Late-term abortions are performed only in the most extreme cases, where there's a threat to the health of the mother or the fetus is so damaged that it will be stillborn. This law helps nobody, and harms women: there can be no doubt that women will die because of it. To say nothing of the psychological trauma of being forced to carry a dead fetus to "term".
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