Ban on partial-birth abortions advances

Utah senators have given preliminary approval to a controversial ban on so-called partial-birth abortions. Now, legislative staff is trying to find a way to get the federal government to pay for the inevitable lawsuit.

"There will be a court battle," predicted Senate Minority Whip Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park, who voted for the ban. "The strategy now is to join the federal lawsuit."

The bill given initial approval Friday is virtually a carbon-copy of a federal ban on partial-birth abortions signed into law last year by President Bush and immediately challenged by abortion rights advocates. As such, the state hopes any legal challenge to its own ban can be wrapped into the same legal challenge on the federal law.

SB69 is somewhat different than the far-reaching partial-birth abortion ban that died in the Senate last year when time expired on the final night. Because the new proposal was tightened to mirror the federal legislation, more than half of the Democrats in the Senate joined with Republicans in favor of the bill.

SB69 will receive a final vote Monday morning before going to the House.

Sponsoring Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said the bill is simple: "A baby that is partially born cannot be killed by a physician," unless the procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother. And according to a congressional finding, the procedure is never used to save the life of the mother anyway, he added.

Most of the debate focused on the constitutionality of the legislation, and even supporters agreed it will be challenged for the same legal reasons that the federal ban was challenged. But they remain confident it is a fight worth fighting.

"Our responsibility is to express the collective will of the people," said Sen. James Evans, R-Salt Lake. "We should never yield to a legal threat."

How the court challenge will turn out is anybody's guess. A federal appeals court threw out a Nebraska ban on partial-birth abortions, whereas a different federal appeals court upheld Ohio's ban. The federal law has not yet been heard by the courts, and regardless of the lower court rulings any decision is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The procedure involves the abortion of a fetus after it has been partially delivered through the birth canal. It has rarely been performed in Utah.