Washington, D.C.: Today the House of Representatives overwhelming voted to pass H.R. 3660, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, by a vote of 287 to 141.

        The bill prohibits abortion providers from utilizing partial-birth abortion procedures. As defined by the bill, such a procedure involves a partial delivery of a living unborn child until some portion of the child is partially outside the mother’s birth canal before killing it and completing the delivery.

        "Today’s vote reminded me of the quote from Hubert H. Humphrey who said ‘the moral test of government is how that government treats those that are in the dawn of their life’... What is this bill really about? It’s about children, decency, compassion and love," said Fletcher. "I am pleased that the House passed this important legislation that bans what essentially is an offense against humanity."

The bill imposes fines or potential imprisonment of up to two years, and allows the father (if he’s married to the mother) or maternal grandparents (if the birth mother is under 18 years of age) to file a civil lawsuit against the doctor for monetary damages. The bill, however, includes an exception to the ban when a doctor performs this procedure to save the life of the mother.