Legal Definitions - Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is a federal law enacted by the U.S. Congress that prohibits a specific medical procedure used to terminate a pregnancy.

This Act bans what it defines as a "partial-birth abortion," a term also known in medical contexts as "intact dilation and extraction." According to the law, this procedure involves a physician:

• Deliberately and intentionally delivering a living fetus vaginally until a significant portion of its body is outside the mother. This means either the entire head in a head-first presentation, or the trunk past the navel in a breech (feet-first) presentation.
• With the specific purpose of then performing an overt act that the physician knows will end the life of the partially delivered fetus.
• And the physician, in fact, performs that act, resulting in the fetus's death.

Congress passed this law based on findings that such a procedure was "gruesome and inhumane" and not medically necessary. A physician found guilty of performing a partial-birth abortion can face fines or imprisonment for up to two years.

However, the Act includes a critical exception: it does not apply if the procedure is deemed necessary to save the life of the mother. This includes situations where the mother's life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury, even if caused by the pregnancy itself.

Examples:

• Scenario 1: A Clear Violation

  A physician performs a late-term abortion on a patient who requests it for elective reasons, not due to a medical emergency. During the procedure, the physician intentionally delivers the fetus's body up to its navel outside the mother's body, and then performs an act to end the fetus's life. The mother's life was not in danger. In this situation, the physician would likely be in violation of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 because all elements of the prohibited procedure—intentional partial delivery of a living fetus followed by an act to end its life, without a life-saving necessity—are present.

• Scenario 2: Applying the Life-Saving Exception

  A pregnant woman in her third trimester experiences a sudden, severe medical condition, such as acute heart failure or an uncontrollable hemorrhage, putting her life in immediate and grave danger. Her medical team determines that the only way to save her life is to perform an immediate intact dilation and extraction. The physician performs the procedure, partially delivering the fetus and then taking action to complete the abortion to stabilize the mother. In this case, the physician's actions would likely not be a violation of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, as the procedure was performed out of medical necessity to save the mother's life, which is explicitly exempted by the law.

• Scenario 3: Distinguishing from Other Procedures

  A physician performs a different type of late-term abortion, such as a Dilation and Evacuation (D&E), where the fetus is dismembered *inside* the uterus before being removed. While this is also a procedure to terminate a pregnancy, it does not involve the intentional partial delivery of an intact, living fetus outside the mother's body before the act to end its life. Therefore, this procedure would not fall under the prohibition of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, as it does not meet the specific definition of a "partial-birth abortion" as outlined in the statute.