"We applaud President Bush today as he signs the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, at last putting an end to the barbaric practice in which a baby in the process of being born is brutally killed," said Gayle Atteberry, Executive Director of Oregon Right to Life. "Today’s new ban on this horrific abortion procedure reflects the will of over 70% of Americans, who, when polled, consistently voice their distaste of the procedure and their desire that it be banned," explained Atteberry.

Opponents of the ban claim that the partial birth abortion procedure is used rarely, and only for emergency reasons. However, "this barbaric procedure is well-documented by those who perform them, to be done thousands of times yearly, and in the vast majority of cases, on healthy mothers of healthy babies," Atteberry continued.

In the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Carhart v. Stenberg, the Court struck down Nebraska’s ban on partial birth abortion. Though the bill includes an exception for medical emergencies, opponents of the ban, who have already filed suit against the law, argue that this new bill signed by President Bush will also be struck down. Authors of the new law point to its careful, new wording, which should make it agreeable to the Justices. "The question the Court will have before them," explained Atteberry, "is whether or not Roe v. Wade really guarantees a right to deliver a premature infant to within inches of complete birth, and then kill her? Lord, help us, when they answer."