The U.S. Senate approved a ban Tuesday on a specific abortion procedure, making way for President Bush to sign it into law.
The procedure, commonly referred to as \partial-birth abortion,"" is a controversial issue with political and religious connotations. But politics aside, doctors and medical ethicists say the procedure is actually rarely used, usually in cases that endanger a mother's health.
The bill defines the procedure as one in which the person performing the abortion ""deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother, for the purposes of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living fetus.""
Alta Charo, UW-Madison professor of law and medical ethics, said this procedure is typically done because the fetus is not viable anymore, and it is occasionally done due to massive health conditions of the mother that interfere with the continuation of pregnancy.
Dr. Mildred S. Hanson, an abortion provider in Minneapolis, Minn., said the two main goals of this procedure are to terminate the pregnancy and to do that without damaging the uterus.
""Our biggest concern is to remove the pregnancy and safeguard the health of the mother,"" Hanson said.
Charo said this procedure, which is medically called dilation and extraction, is required to save women from the risk of infection.
Charo said first the doctor dilates the cervix, usually over a sequence of days. Next, the doctor inserts instruments into the uterus to move the fetus into a breech position. Then they begin to pull the fetus out of the body foot first, but not as far as to get the head. The head is now collapsed, so that it can pass through the cervix. The collapsing of the head will kill the fetus.
""This procedure makes a lot of sense because you're putting a smaller diameter through the cervix,"" Hanson said.
According to Charo, the more typical procedure involved actually ending the pregnancy with the fetus still in the uterus. This can damage the uterus and cause women's organs inside the body to become infected.
When the fetus is in its third tri-semester, it is not possible to terminate the fetus inside the woman's body and safely remove it without risking infection.
Though the procedure is only used rarely, anti-abortion advocates say the procedure is never needed.
""It is never necessary, especially not to save the life of a mother, and I think that is what they have been using to continue the procedure,"" said Katherine Ribnek of Pro-Life Wisconsin.
