WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush signed legislation Wednesday banning a
certain type of abortion, handing the disputed procedure's opponents a
long-sought victory even as a federal judge at least partially blocked the new
law from taking effect.
"For years, a terrible form of violence has been directed against children
who are inches from birth while the law looked the other way," Bush said as he
signed the ban on a procedure called partial-birth abortion by its critics.
"Today at last the American people and our government have confronted the
violence and come to the defense of the innocent child."
The White House staged the ceremony, before about 400 cheering lawmakers
and abortion opponents, at a federal building named for former President
Ronald Reagan, a strong supporter of anti-abortion groups. An "Amen" was heard
from the audience as Bush sat down at a desk, before a row of American flags,
to sign the bill passed last month by Congress.
But less than an hour after Bush put his pen to paper, a federal judge in
Nebraska sharply questioned the law's constitutionality and issued a limited
temporary restraining order against it. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said
he was concerned that the ban contains no exception if the woman's health is
at risk as he issued an injunction applied only to the four doctors who
brought the suit.
"While it is also true that Congress found that a health exception is not
needed, it is, at the very least, problematic whether I should defer to such a
conclusion when the Supreme Court has found otherwise," Kopf said.
Besides Nebraska, hearings were also being held in San Francisco and New
York City Wednesday on similar challenges.
Fully aware of the impending legal obstacles, Bush said, to a standing
ovation and the longest round of applause during his brief remarks: "The
executive branch will vigorously defend this law against any who would try to
overturn it in the courts."
The president's signature represented an end to a legislative crusade that
began after Republicans captured the House in 1995. Former President Clinton
twice vetoed similar bills, arguing that they lacked an exception to protect
the health of the mother.
The law, approved by the House and Senate late last month, prohibits
doctors from committing an "overt act" designed to kill a partially delivered
fetus and allows no exception if the woman's health is at risk, or if the
child would be born with ailments. The procedure, which usually involves
puncturing the fetus' skull, is generally performed in the second or third
trimester.
Aware of its backing among the religious conservatives that make up a key
portion of his base of political support, the president declared himself
pleased to sign legislation he said would help him and others "build a culture
of life" in America. To that end, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said
the president supports additional legislative moves -- which he did not
specify -- to further restrict abortion.
"This right to life cannot be granted or denied by government, because it
does not come from government -- it comes from the creator of life," the
president said, receiving another lengthy standing ovation.
But Bush is also mindful of the more moderate voters he cannot afford to
alienate, and last week repeated a position he offered during his 2000
campaign. He said he would not seek a total ban on abortion because public
opinion had not yet shifted to support such a move.
The new law is similar to a Nebraska statute struck down by the Supreme
Court three years ago and imposes the most far-reaching limits on abortion
since the high court in 1973 established a woman's right to end a pregnancy.
Supporters argue the law applies only to a procedure done late in pregnancy
-- and relatively rarely -- and that the procedure is never necessary to
protect the health of the mother.
"As Congress has found, the practice is widely regarded within the medical
profession as unnecessary, not only cruel to the child, but harmful to the
mother and a violation of medical ethics," Bush said.
Overly broad language
But abortion-rights groups say the law has overly broad language that could
criminalize several safe and common procedures, and fear it represents the
first step in a larger campaign to eventually bar all abortions.
Outside the ceremony, the National Organization for Women conducted a
protest of about 50 to 100 activists who chanted and held signs saying "Keep
Abortion Legal" and "saveroe.com" -- a Web site named for the Roe v. Wade
decision legalizing the procedure.
On Capitol Hill, critics urged the courts to declare the ban
unconstitutional at a news conference outside the Supreme Court.
"President Bush and Congress have no business inserting themselves between
American women and their doctors," said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-New York.
