Despite the stalling tactics of the Democratic party leadership, there is every indication that the Senate will soon join the House of Representatives in approving a prohibition on partial-birth abortions except when the woman’s life is at risk. President Bush is ready to sign the ban into law, thereby ending the semantic bait-and-switch that legalized an act all but indistinguishable from infanticide.

Yet this victory, so long in coming, remains tenuous. Similar legislation was first introduced in 1995 and twice vetoed by President Clinton. It is still uncertain what reception the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act will receive in the Supreme Court challenges that groups like the American Civil Liberties Union are already vowing to bring.

The ban needs the support of the public now more than ever. A January 2003 Gallup poll reported that 70 percent of Americans backed “a law that made it illegal to perform a specific abortion procedure conducted in the last sixth months of pregnancy known as ‘partial-birth abortion’ except in cases necessary to save the life of the mother.” The majority of Americans must not allow the issue to be hijacked by the most radical pro-choice groups, organizations that by supporting partial-birth abortion undermine their claim to be acting in the best interest of women.

The facts on partial-birth abortion are simple and damning. The American Medical Association (AMA) describes the procedure — which it refers to with the more technical term “intact dilation and extraction” or “intact D & X” in this way:

“A deliberate dilatation of the cervix, usually over a sequence of days; instrumental or manual conversion of the fetus to a footling breech; breech extraction of the body excepting the head; and partial evacuation of the intracranial contents of the fetus to effect vaginal delivery of a dead but otherwise intact fetus.”

“Partial evacuation of the intracranial contents” means that a surgical instrument — such as a pair of long scissors — is jabbed into the baby’s head, which is purposefully retained within the birth canal after the rest of its body has emerged. That’s why it is called partial-birth abortion, since it is mere inches from a full-birth abortion — or what all of us would call murder. Next, a catheter is inserted into the wound, and the child’s brain is sucked out by a powerful machine. The skull collapses and the delivery of the now dead baby is completed. Experts confirm that the child experiences in full the excruciating pain of the procedure.

And here is the final, most heinous twist: there is absolutely no need for all this suffering. The official statement of the AMA is that “there does not appear to be any identified situation in which intact D&X is the only appropriate procedure to induce abortion.” After extensive testimony from medical experts, the House conference committee on the act released its findings. It’s report declared that the procedure is never medically necessary to save the life of a woman and actually poses substantial risks, ranging from cervical and uterine damage to severe bleeding, shock and death.

The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act can finally end this horror. Americans recognize partial-birth abortion as a grave evil. Now they must demand their government does the same.

Colleen Kaul is a sophomore in aerospace engineering from Marengo, Ill.