“I applaud the Senate for joining the House in passing the ban,” said U.S. president George Bush October 21. “I look forward to signing it into law.”

The bill would impose fines and up to two years in prison for anyone who performs the procedure known in the medical field as intact dilation and evacuation or D&E, a technique used in performing late-term abortions. The bill would also allow husbands of women who undergo the procedure, as well as parents of women under 18, to sue their relatives and doctors.

Bush reiterated he would sign the bill October 28, adding, “I don’t think the culture has changed to the extent that the American people or Congress would totally ban abortions.” Capitalist politicians opposed to abortion rights have stated they will introduce further bills to restrict abortion.

One of these proposals is the so-called “Unborn Victims of Violence Act,” which classifies a fetus as a “crime victim” if injured or killed while a federal crime is committed. In a decision that potentially has bearing on the constitutionality of the law, the Supreme Court in October refused to hear an appeal on behalf of a woman in South Carolina who was imprisoned after being convicted of “killing her stillborn child” as a result of her addiction to crack cocaine. Her lawyers noted that no other woman has been convicted of homicide after suffering a stillbirth.

The “Abortion Non-Discrimination Act” would allow a range of health-care companies and providers to refuse to “perform, pay for, or provide referrals” for abortions. It already passed the House in 2002 with strong backing from both capitalist parties by a margin of 229 to 189. A third bill, called the Child Custody Protection Act, makes it a federal crime for any person other than a parent or legal guardian to transport a minor across a state line in order to get an abortion when it circumvents a state law requiring parental notification.

Anti abortion groups like the National Right to Life Committee and the American Life League applauded the bill and Bush’s pledge to sign it. Edward Szymkowiak of the American Life League said his group would like to see a ban on all third-trimester abortions, with no exception made for rape or incest. Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee backed moves to make transporting a minor across state line to get an abortion a crime.

As in past congressional sessions, sponsors of the late-term abortion ban described the procedure in detail while displaying graphic photos of fetuses in utero. “I hope your sensibilities are shaken to the point where I don’t have to explain,” exclaimed Sen. Richard Santorum.

Versions of the bill making the procedure illegal have been debated in Congress since 1995 and passed in both houses in 1996 and 1997. Those bills were vetoed by former president William Clinton because they did not contain exemptions to protect the life and health of the mother. After vetoing a version of the bill in 1996 Clinton said that if legislators, “will help me with language here … I will happily sign this bill.”

The current bill contains no exemption to protect the life and health of the mother. Abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the National Abortion Federation all plan legal challenges on the grounds Clinton used. These groups also argue that the broad language of the legislation could be used to cast a chilling effect on more common abortion procedures. In 2000 the Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Nebraska banning the procedure because it contained no exemption to protect the woman’s health.

National Organization for Women president Kim Gandy urged supporters of abortion rights to mobilize for a planned mass march in Washington next April.  
 
 
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