Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act

For the failed 1995 bill, see Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995.
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003
Great Seal of the United States
Long titleAn Act to prohibit the procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion.
NicknamesPBA Ban
Enacted bythe 108th United States Congress
Citations
Public lawPub. L. 108–105 (text) (PDF)
Statutes at Large117 Stat. 1201
Codification
Titles amended18
U.S.C. sections created18 U.S.C. § 1531
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the Senate as S. 3 by Rick Santorum (R–PA) on February 14, 2003
  • Passed the Senate on March 13, 2003 (64–33)
  • Passed the House on June 4, 2003 (282–139 as H.R. 760, inserted in lieu by unanimous consent)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on September 30, 2003; agreed to by the House on October 2, 2003 (281–142) and by the Senate on October 21, 2003 (64–34)
  • Signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 5, 2003
United States Supreme Court cases
Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)
Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (Pub. L. 108–105 (text) (PDF), 117 Stat. 1201, enacted November 5, 2003, 18 U.S.C. § 1531,[1] PBA Ban) is a United States law prohibiting a form of late termination of pregnancy called "partial-birth abortion", referred to in medical literature as intact dilation and extraction.[2] Under this law, any physician "who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both". The law was enacted in 2003, and in 2007 its constitutionality was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Gonzales v. Carhart.

  1. ^ Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate Archived 2008-11-29 at the Wayback Machine (HTML); * same, from the U.S. Government Printing Office (PDF)
  2. ^ Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007). Findlaw.com. Retrieved 2007-04-19. ("The medical community has not reached unanimity on the appropriate name for this D&E variation. It has been referred to as 'intact D&E', 'dilation and extraction' (D&X), and 'intact D&X' ... For discussion purposes this D&E variation will be referred to as intact D&E. ... A straightforward reading of the Act's text demonstrates its purpose and the scope of its provisions: It regulates and proscribes, with exceptions or qualifications to be discussed, performing the intact D&E procedure.")