WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban a controversial surgical procedure known as "partial birth abortion".
The 64-34 vote sends the measure to President Bush, who said he's eager to sign it. The House approved the measure early this month, 281-142.
The New York Times said the bill will become the first federal ban on a specific abortion method since a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion was established in 1973 by the Supreme Court.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the bill, "...for the first time in history bans a medical procedure without making any exception for the health of the woman." She predicted it would be declared unconstitutional.
The law makes it a crime, punishable by up to two years in prison, for physicians to perform what's known in the medical profession as "intact dilation and extraction," a procedure occasionally used during second and third trimesters.
Opponents, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say the language is too broad and could be used to prohibit "a variety of safe and common abortion procedures."
