By a three-vote margin, the Senate today sustained the president's veto of the "partial-birth abortion" law, which would have outlawed the safest and most common methods of abortion throughout pregnancy, including the first trimester. Janet Benshoof, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy organization dedicated to promoting women's reproductive rights, praised the Senate for rejecting the extreme measure as a "back-alley effort to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate women's right to choose abortion."

A national poll shows that voters support the president's veto of the "partial-birth abortion" ban. An overwhelming majority of Americans (65%) say there should be a health exception to the ban to prevent serious harm to a woman's health, according to a recent poll conducted by Peter D. Hart for the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Today's vote reveals the extent to which Congressional leadership has become beholden to the Christian Right, a strident minority that has made abortion a litmus test for its political support. "By timing this vote to coincide with the Christian Coalition's "Road to Victory" lobbying days, Senate leadership has sent a message that it is willing to sacrifice women's constitutional rights to mollify extremists, who are committed to imposing a rigid ideology on the rest of the nation," said Benshoof. "This bill was rightly defeated because it was an unwarranted intrusion of government in private medical decisions."

The term "partial-birth abortion" was invented by anti-choice activists as part of a strategy to deny women the right to choose abortion. While proponents of the bill perpetuated the myth that "partial-birth abortion" bills were designed to outlaw a rare, late-term procedure, it was a deceptive smokescreen for legislation intended to outlaw all abortions, without providing an exception to prevent harm to women's health. The Center for Reproductive Rights has successfully proven to judges across the country that laws like the Senate bill, and its state copycats, are unconstitutional. These efforts have resulted in court orders in seventeen states enjoining "partial-birth abortion" bans on constitutional grounds.

"Congress has more important work to do than execute the Christian Right's agenda to outlaw abortion. Congressional leadership should support efforts to improve women's reproductive health care, including contraceptive coverage. The message from the American people to Congress is clear: stop pandering to a fundamentalist minority by introducing legislation that denies women their constitutional rights, and jeopardizes their health and lives. Enough is enough," said Benshoof.