By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press
10/31/2003, 12:44 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) - In an unusual legal maneuver, two organizations went to court Friday to block legislation banning a procedure that critics call "partial birth" abortions.
President Bush has yet to sign the measure, although he is expected to do so next week. Such a legal challenge, before a bill has become law, is unusual.
"We want the judge to be in a position to issue an order as soon as the bill is signed," said Priscilla Smith, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Smith filed her motion in federal court in Nebraska on behalf of physicians, while the American Civil Liberties Union sought a similar order in New York.
Congress approved the legislation earlier this month, capping a seven-year political struggle.
The bill imposes the most far-reaching limits on abortion since the Supreme Court in 1973 confirmed a woman's right to end a pregnancy.
The lawsuit filed in Nebraska contends the legislation fails to make an exception in cases where the prohibited abortion might be necessary to protect the health of the mother. In addition, it argues that it would ban safe procedures done commonly before the fetus becomes viable outside the womb, imposing an undue burden on a woman who is seeking to end a pregnancy.
Supporters of the bill contend it applies only to a procedure done late in pregnancy that is never necessary to protect the health of the mother.
The new bill defines partial birth abortion as delivery of a fetus "until, in the case of a headfirst presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the case of the breech presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living fetus."
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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