Partial-birth abortion

Partial birth abortion (PBA) refers to most intact dilation and extraction (IDX) procedures where the fetus is alive at the time of the procedure — thus resulting in an abortion of the fetus. IDX procedures are also called dilation and extraction (D&X), intact dilation & evacuation (Intact D&E, or IDE), and Intrauterine Cranial Decompression (for the purposes of this article, IDX will be the term of choice). While the term "Partial Birth Abortion" largely refers to IDX procedures, in broader contexts the term is sometimes applied to dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedures. Though often performed during the same developmental stage wherein most D&X procedures are done, D&E is a separate and distinct procedure from IDX. A D&E procedure differs in that the fetus is killed during the process of dismemberment before leaving the womb, rather than being extracted intact.

Etymology

The procedure was first described as "Dilation and Extraction" by Cincinnati physician W. Martin Haskell, MD in a monograph that was distributed by the National Abortion Federation in September of 1992. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/SFL/partial-birth_abortion.htm.

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The term partial-birth abortion did not appear until several years later, when the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995 was introduced in the House of Representative on 14 June 1995. The law defined partial-birth abortion as "an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery." That same year; however, Ohio enacted a law which referred to the procedure as dilation and extraction. In 2000, Ohio amended the law http://onlinedocs.andersonpublishing.com/oh/lpExt.dll/PORC/13316/13a49/13a6f/13a9a?fn=document-frame.htm&f=templates&2.0# to use the term partial birth feticide, as well as to overcome the unconstitutionality of the prior statute. There are limited other examples of the use of the term partial birth feticide.

Related Topics:
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1995 - 14 June - 1995

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Another alternative term is brain suction abortion, the use of which has been mostly limited. Specifically, pro-life activist Janet Folger has used the term to describe the procedure. http://www.skeptictank.org/janut1.htm. Like partial-birth abortion, this term was created for the sole-purpose of casting the procedure in a negative light for political reasons (and can even be considered a misnomer, since arguably no birth or partial-birth occurs).

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