Editing Intact dilation and extraction (section)

==== Federal law ====
Since 1995, led by [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] in [[United States Congress|Congress]], the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] and [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] have moved several times to pass measures banning the procedure. Congress passed two such measures by wide margins during [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton's presidency]], but Clinton [[veto]]ed those bills in April 1996 and October 1997 on the grounds that they did not include health exceptions. Subsequent congressional attempts at overriding the veto were unsuccessful.

A major part of the legal battle over banning the procedure relates to health exceptions, which would permit the procedure in special circumstances. The 1973 Supreme Court decision ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', which declared many state-level abortion restrictions unconstitutional, allowed states to ban abortions of post-viable fetuses unless an abortion was "necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother." The companion ruling, ''[[Doe v. Bolton]]'', upheld against a vagueness challenge a state law that defined health to include mental as well as physical health. The Court has never explicitly held, as a matter of constitutional law, that states have to allow abortions of post-viable fetuses if doing so is necessary for the woman's mental health, but many read ''Doe'' as implying as much. The concern that the health exception can be read so liberally partly explains why supporters of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act did not want to include one.

In 2003, the [[Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act]] (H.R. 760, S. 3) was signed into law; the House passed it on October 2 with a vote of 281–142, the Senate passed it on October 21 with a vote of 64–34, and President [[George W. Bush]] signed it into law on November 5.

Beginning in early 2004, the [[Planned Parenthood Federation of America]], the [[National Abortion Federation]], and abortion doctors in Nebraska challenged the ban in [[United States district court|federal district courts]] in the [[United States District Court for the Northern District of California|Northern District of California]], [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|Southern District of New York]], and [[United States District Court for the District of Nebraska|District of Nebraska]]. All three district courts ruled the ban unconstitutional that same year. Their respective [[United States court of appeals|federal courts of appeals]]&mdash;the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit]], [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Second Circuit]], and [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit|Eighth Circuit]], respectively&mdash;affirmed these rulings on appeal.

The three cases were all appealed to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]], and were consolidated into the case ''[[Gonzales v. Carhart]]''. On April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court voted to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act by a decision of 5–4.<ref>{{cite news|first=Mark |last=Sherman |title=Court Backs ban on abortion procedure |date=April 18, 2007 |publisher=SFGate |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/18/national/w070844D25.DTL&type=politics |access-date=2007-04-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114231038/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2007%2F04%2F18%2Fnational%2Fw070844D25.DTL&type=politics |archive-date=November 14, 2007 }}</ref> Justice [[Anthony Kennedy|Kennedy]] wrote for the majority and was joined by Justices [[Clarence Thomas|Thomas]], [[Antonin Scalia|Scalia]], [[Samuel Alito|Alito]], and Chief Justice [[John G. Roberts|Roberts]]. A dissenting opinion was written by Justice [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg|Ginsburg]] and joined by Justices [[John Paul Stevens|Stevens]], [[David Souter|Souter]] and [[Stephen Breyer|Breyer]].