Federal Law
FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act) Title 18 U.S.C. § 248
Recently signed into law, FACE is a federal statute (18 U.S.C. §248) that provides criminal and civil sanctions for obstructing or interfearing with a woman's access to abortion. It has sustained challenges on 1st Amendment grounds.
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act [Full text of Judiciary Cmte. Report]
Unsuccessful bill to prohibit the performance of "partial-birth," "dilation and extraction" (D&X) or "intact dilation and evacuation" (intact D&E) late-term abortion procedures, which entail (1) delivery of the torso, (2) piercing the undelivered skull, (3) collapsing the skull via suction curate, and then (4) completing delivery. This bill was vetoed and the override failed in the Senate. See Partial-birth Abortion Laws.
Unsuccessful bill designed to codify Roe v. Wade in response to its substantial erosion by the Supreme Court in Webster and Casey. It sought to preserve the "strict scrutiny" standard of review for abortion legislation, which would require a "compelling state interest" be shown. The Supreme Court's "undue burden" standard currently controls.
Right to Life Amendments to the Constitution
Proposed Constitutional Amendments designed to counteract Roe by providing constitutional protection for the unborn.
Congressman Henry Hyde's twenty year-old series of amendments to spending legislation forbidding the use of federal funds for elective abortions.
