On November 5, 2003, President George Bush signed into law the Partial-Birth Abortion Act, which included a sole exception to preserve the lives of women, and also calls for a minimum two-year jail term for violators.
Says the first paragraph of the Act, “A moral, medical and ethical consensus exists that the practice of performing a partial-birth abortion…is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary and should be prohibited.”
Within hours of becoming law, judges in three cities blocked it from taking force. Three federal appeals courts have since ruled that this federal ban is unconstitutional on many legal grounds. The 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Act has never been enforced.