A prohibition on partial-birth abortions and providing a penalty

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin et al. v. Doyle, et al., 249 F.3d 603 (7th Cir. 2001).

In 2007, the United States Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on partial-birth abortion, finding that the federal ban did not unduly burden a woman's right to an abortion and that the federal statute set forth specific "landmarks" that clearly delineate when a partial-birth abortion is being performed.

Gonzales v.

Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007).

Under this bill, the current prohibition on the performance of partial-birth abortions is changed to define "partial-birth abortion" as an abortion during which a person vaginally delivers a living fetus until a certain proportion of the fetal body is outside of his or her mother's body and then kills the partially delivered fetus. This definition is the same as that under the federal ban, as upheld by Gonzales . Under this bill, a physician or other person who violates the prohibition is guilty of a Class I felony. As under federal law, this bill prohibits the prosecution of a woman upon whom a partial-birth abortion is performed. This bill also eliminates any exception to the prohibition.

The bill also specifies that a civil cause of action granted to the father of a fetus aborted by a partial-birth abortion is limited to cases in which the father was married to the mother at the time the abortion was performed.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report concerning the proposed penalty and the costs or savings that are likely to result if the bill is enacted.