I am livid.

First the Patriot Act, now this.

Please vote this prancing, ignorant, hate-mongering, coke-sniffing bastard OUT of the office he cheated to obtain.

Bush Signs Partial Birth Abortion Ban
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – President Bush (news – web sites) on Wednesday signed legislation banning a certain type of abortion, handing its opponents a long-sought victory even as a federal judge sharply questioned the constitutionality of the new law.

“For years, a terrible form of violence has been directed against children who are inches from birth while the law looked the other way,” Bush said as he signed the ban on a procedure called partial-birth abortion by its critics.

The White House staged the ceremony, before about 400 lawmakers and abortion opponents, at a federal building named for former President Ronald Reagan (news – web sites), a strong supporter of anti-abortion groups. “Today at last the American people and our government have confronted the violence and come to the defense of the innocent child,” he said.

But even before Bush put his pen to the bill passed by Congress, a federal judge in Nebraska sharply questioned its constitutionality. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf, at a hearing on a suit challenging the new law said, “It’s probably likely I’m going to issue an injunction. I doubt it will be nationwide.”

Besides Nebraska, hearings were also being held in San Francisco and New York City Wednesday on similar challenges.

Fully aware of the impending legal obstacles, Bush said, to the longest round of applause during his remarks: “The executive branch will vigorously defend this law against any who would try to overturn it in the courts.”

The president’s signature represented an end to a legislative crusade that began after Republicans captured the House in 1995. Former President Clinton (news – web sites) twice vetoed similar bills, arguing that they lacked an exception to protect the health of the mother.

The law, approved by the House and Senate late last month, prohibits doctors from committing an “overt act” designed to kill a partially delivered fetus and allows no exception if the woman’s health is at risk, or if the child would be born with ailments. The procedure, which usually involves puncturing the fetus’ skull, is generally performed in the second or third trimester.

Aware of its backing among the religious conservatives that make up a key portion of his base of political support, the president declared himself pleased to sign what he called legislation that offers America’s children “a different and better welcome.”

“Today, we welcome vulnerable children into the care and protection of Americans,” he said.

But Bush is also mindful of the more moderate voters he cannot afford to alienate, and last week repeated a position he offered during his 2000 campaign. He said he would not seek a total ban on abortion because public opinion had not yet shifted to support such a move.

The new law is similar to a Nebraska statute struck down by the Supreme Court three years ago and imposes the most far-reaching limits on abortion since the high court in 1973 established a woman’s right to end a pregnancy.

Supporters argue the law applies only to a procedure done late in pregnancy — and relatively rarely — and that the procedure is never necessary to protect the health of the mother.

“As Congress has found, the practice is widely regarded within the medical profession as unnecessary — not only cruel to the child, but harmful to the mother and a violation of medical ethics,” Bush said.

But abortion-rights groups say the law has overly broad language that could criminalize several safe and common procedures, and fear it represents the first step in a larger campaign to eventually bar all abortions.

The National Organization for Women (news – web sites) organized a protest outside the signing ceremony, while Capitol Hill critics urged the courts to declare the ban unconstitutional at a news conference outside the Supreme Court.

“President Bush and Congress have no business inserting themselves between American women and their doctors,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.