Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski and other pro-life leaders in the diocese joined accolades echoing throughout the nation following President George W. Bush’s signing of the partial birth abortion ban Nov. 5.

The new law, which represents the first time in 30 years that there has been a federal restriction on any abortion procedure, was immediately challenged in multiple lawsuits, charging that the new law is unconstitutional.

Bishop Bootkoski stated, "The fact that a ban against the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure has cleared both houses of Congress and has been signed into law by the president of our nation is a long-overdue affirmation of the reality that Americans from all walks of life and political points of view do not want such an atrocity to be committed against the unborn.

"Because the legal challenges to this law were immediately filed, the partial birth abortion ban may not stop the slaughter of innocents as quickly as we might have hoped. However, President Bush’s signing of the law is a momentous and historic point of progress in our long-standing fight to protect all human life. Just as this advancement in our federal government has focused the spotlight on the barbarism of this procedure, so too has it exposed those who will let no assault on humanity, no matter how heinous, get in the way of what is, for them, merely a political issue."

He added, "The battle to end partial birth abortion now moves to the courts and we will not rest until it is effectively and finally banned in this nation."

Jennifer Ruggiero, diocesan director for pro-life activities, also celebrated the president’s actions, stating, "President Bush signing the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, has capped an almost decade-long effort by pro-life citizens to outlaw this inhumane procedure. This is truly an historic moment; it is a victory for women, for unborn children and for all Americans."

She continued, "Despite numerous setbacks, the pro-life community never wavered in its commitment to protect women and their unborn children from this horrific form of abortion.  We are grateful for the faithful witness of so many in the Catholic community, in our diocese and across the country, whose efforts have made this historic moment possible."

Ruggiero acknowledged the limited practical effect this will have on stopping the procedure in the face of court challenges. "Sadly, abortions will continue. But today our nation is one step closer to a culture of life."

An invited guest to the signing ceremony, Marie Tasy, public and legislative affairs director of New Jersey Right to Life, and member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Milltown, said, "We are gratified to finally have a president who agrees with the majority of Americans that partial birth abortion is brutal, inhumane and should be banned. We applaud the president for signing this bill into law."

 In regard to the lawsuits filed against the new law, Tasy said, "It’s time these groups stopped masquerading as compassionate, pro-woman, mainstream advocates. What they’re defending is merciless, anti-woman and beyond extreme. Partial birth abortion is never necessary to save a woman’s life or preserve her health and is morally repugnant to the majority of citizens in New Jersey and across America who want it banned. It is only the most extreme pro-abortion element who believes partial birth abortions should remain legal, and thankfully, those people are a very small minority."

 She concluded, "No matter how many times these pro-abortion groups go running to a court of law to interfere with the will of the people, they cannot change the court of public opinion which is resoundingly in favor of outlawing partial birth abortion. Partial birth abortions will be banned in this country and in our state. It’s only a matter of time."

In signing the legislation, President Bush underscored the brutality of the procedure. He said, "The facts about partial-birth abortion are troubling and tragic, and no lawyer’s brief can make them seem otherwise. By acting to prevent this practice, the elected branches of our government have affirmed a basic standard of humanity, the duty of the strong to protect the weak."

The president said a partial-birth abortion "involves the partial delivery of a live boy or girl, and a sudden, violent end to that life."

"Our nation owes its children a different and better welcome," he added.

The new law defines partial-birth abortion as the partial delivery of a fetus from the womb "for the purpose of performing an overt act that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living fetus" and then performing that act, killing the partially delivered fetus instead of delivering it alive. Doctors who violate the ban could face a fine and up to two years in prison.

The legislation allows an exception to save the life of the mother but does not include an exception for the mother’s health.

Pro-life members of Congress have been working since 1993 to ban the procedure. Bills barring partial-birth abortions were twice vetoed by President Clinton on grounds that there was no health exception in them. A health provision would have rendered the legislation virtually meaningless because of the broad definition of maternal health given by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 in its decisions to legalize abortion.

But even as the president signed the legislation, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf was hearing arguments in Lincoln, Neb., on whether he should block implementation of the law.

As the hearing began, Kopf, an appointee of President Reagan, said the law had "serious vagueness problems" and expressed concern that there was no exception for a mother’s health.

"It seems to me that the law is highly suspect, if not a per se violation of the Constitution," he said.

Kopf issued a temporary but indefinite injunction against the law’s implementation but he limited the scope of the injunction to Dr. LeRoy Carhart of Bellevue, Neb., and three other abortion providers who had filed the suit.

It was Carhart’s fight against a statewide Nebraska law banning partial-birth abortions that led to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the law in 2000.

On Nov. 6 a federal judge in San Francisco blocked the law. The ruling affects doctors at 900 clinics across the country run by Planned Parenthood.

The same day a federal judge in Manhattan also blocked the ban, granting a temporary restraining order to a network of abortion providers, the National Abortion Federation, which filed a lawsuit challenging the ban’s constitutionality.

Among the Catholic leaders attending the Nov. 5 signing ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington were Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, and Gail Quinn and Richard Doerflinger, director and deputy director of the bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.

In advertisements Nov. 5 in USA Today and in a Capitol Hill political newspaper called Roll Call, the U.S. bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities and the Knights of Columbus congratulated Bush "and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle" for bringing the United States "one step closer to a culture of life." The ad was signed, "With gratitude, millions of Catholics across the United States."

A similar ad thanking Catholics for their efforts in supporting the partial-birth abortion ban was to appear in the Nov. 16 issue of the National Catholic Register and the Nov. 23 issue of Our Sunday Visitor, both of which have nationwide circulation.

Even while acknowledging that the new law faced court challenges, the ad said: "After eight years, you’ve made history. This marks the first federal restriction of an abortion procedure in 30 years."

In separate statements issued Nov. 5, numerous Catholic and other leaders praised the signing of the ban by the president.

"Since this horrifying procedure became public almost a decade ago, the American people have shown a firm and unwavering resolve to ban it. That resolve has brought us to this historic day," said the Knights’ Anderson.

"I welcome this law," said Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago. "Children shouldn’t be killed while being born."

Cardinal Justin F. Rigali of Philadelphia called the signing of the bill "a victory for women, for unborn children and indeed for all Americans who embrace a culture of life." He asked for "Catholics and others who value the sacredness of all human life to continue to work on behalf of women and their unborn children and to pray for the day when no abortions take place in this country."

Father Michael Place, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, said, "We are grateful that our nation’s leaders agree that partial-birth abortion is an abhorrent practice that has no place in a society which believes in compassion and dignity for all."

He added, "We hope and pray that the courts see the partial-birth abortion procedure for what it is, the killing of children who are in the process of being born."

National Council of Catholic Women president Maggie Gray said that "by passing this bill, the U.S. Congress has moved beyond politics so that American law and medical practice can work together to protect rather than endanger partially born babies."

National Right to Life Committee legislative director Douglas Johnson noted the 2000 Supreme Court decision handed down on the Nebraska law and the court fight ahead on the new ban.

"This law will ultimately be reviewed by the Supreme Court, where five justices in 2000 said Roe vs. Wade guarantees the right to perform partial-birth abortions at will," he said. "We can only hope that by the time this law reaches the Supreme Court, there will be at least a one-vote shift away from that extreme and inhumane position."

"The lengthy and ardent opposition to this ban shows who the extremists really are and how far they will go to defend the undermining principle that imposed and violent death is the solution to the problems of life," said a statement from the Iowa-based Lutherans for Life.