Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Late-Abortion Ban Sent to House Floor

A bill to outlaw some late-term abortions gained the House Judiciary Committee’s approval. Abortion-rights supporters called it “the beginning of the end.” After nearly three hours of passionate and partisan debate, the panel sent the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act to the House floor on a party-line vote of 20 to 12. The bill would make it a crime for doctors to perform a “partial-birth” abortion, defined as a procedure “in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery.” It also would subject doctors who perform the procedure to fines or up to two years in prison.