A little over six years ago, Brenda Pratt Shafer, a registered nurse with thirteen years of experience, was assigned by her nursing agency to an abortion clinic. Since Nurse Shafer considered herself "very pro-choice," she didnt think this assignment would be a problem; however, she soon realized how wrong she was. The doctor delivered the babys body and arms, everything but his little head. The babys body was moving. The doctor took a pair of scissors and inserted them into the back of the babys head, and the babys arms jerked out in a flinch. Then he stuck the high-powered suction tube into the hole and sucked the babys brains out. Now the baby was completely limp (Partial Birth Abortion All sides 1).While these third trimester or partial birth abortions only occur in 1% of all abortions (Partial 2), Ron Fitsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers estimates that three to four thousand partial birth abortions are performed annually in the United State; about ten a day. As of December 1998, only 23 states have passed anti-partial birth abortion (PBA) laws (Kellman 1). However, with the exception of Virginia, all have been declared unconstitutional or suspended until pending law suites have been settled. This means that everyday ten babies three inches from birth are murdered legally. If the doctor were to birth these babies just three more inches, this procedure would be infanticide. It is not only ridiculous that these living breathing babies be murdered, but that their murder is legal. Partial birth abortions are the political third rail; no one wants to touch them for fear of being fried. Republican and Conservative politicians have repeatedly proposed seemingly noble legislation outlawing partial birth abortions, but the legislations vague wording, which often implies the illegality of any abortion, leads to the inevitable Presidential veto or the Supreme Courts declaration of unconstitut...
