John (or anyone else interested), this is undoubtedly more than you will ever care to know about various abortion procedures HERE, and definition and description of "partial birth abortion" HERE. I was in error in my above post. D&X is not the standard procedure for early (first trimester) abortion, I believe D&E (dilation and evacuation) is, although I shouldn't say because I'm really not sure. I believe this is covered in the second link I posted. If you really want to pin it down, check with a gynecologist or obstetrician, but in any case, it is my understanding the D&X is a late term procedure rarely used, and then only under the conditions I stated in my previous post—medical necessity. In any case, banning "partial birth abortion" when a doctor deems it necessary would quite possibly result in the death of the woman. Not something you hear much about from the "pro-life" advocates of these bans.

While googling through cyberspace in search of this information, I encountered a large number of "pro-life" web sites that described—very graphically—the "partial birth abortion" procedure in what can only be described as emotional and inflammatory terms: "The scissors are thrust into the baby's skull, the opening enlarged, and then the baby's brains are sucked out, causing the baby's skull to collapse. . . ." Note the often repeated use of the word "baby" rather than "fetus." The diagrams show a baby which is either full-term or very close to full-term. Another appeal to emotion.

In my opinion, abortion is a sad and undesirable thing. But I, personally, would butt the hell out and leave the decision up to the woman in question and her doctor, not to a bunch of people who want to cram their religious beliefs down the throats of the rest of the country and certainly not to a bunch of middle-aged men in Washington, D.C.

Don Firth