This week, the district courts are taking up President Bush’s law outlawing Partial Birth Abortion (otherwise known as D&X).

The National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and a handful of doctors sued to overturn the law. They say its language could criminalize more common types of abortion and could be a step toward abolishing abortion in the United States.

As a physician, I know this procedure has no place in medicine. As a family physician, I was trained in obstetrics.

I never saw it performed or even discussed as a viable medical option. A woman who is so ill to require an abortion to save her life or health would never be put through this gruesome procedure.

Planned Parenthood is wrong. They are against this sensible restriction on abortion, just to protect the dogma of Roe v. Wade. Sadly, many of my peers have sided with the abortionists. The American Medical Association does not encourage use of D&X, but says it should not be banned. The College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says alternatives to D&X usually exist, but that in some circumstances, it may be the best procedure.

I feel that mainstream medicine has lost its soul. Many of the so-called experts have forgotten the sanctity of life — the whole reason we went to medical school.

The abortionists are hiding the truth. They know this procedure is only done electively, on healthy women and for the sake of convenience. It is a barbaric thing to do to a baby.

I pray for medicine to find its soul again and to stop the killing. How can our patients trust us if we endorse the slaughter of their children?

Thomas Messe, M.D.

Groton, Conn.