Law Commons^™

The Promised End - Physician-Assisted Suicide And Abortion, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

The debate over late term intact dilation and evacuation abortions (so-called "partial birth" abortions) has been an uncomfortable one for those in the pro-choice community.' Although the United States Senate narrowly refused to override President Clinton's veto of a bill criminalizing this procedure, many in Congress agreed with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) that it was "as close to infanticide as anything I have come upon."2 States have a compelling interest in preventing infanticide that is not contradicted by a woman's constitutional right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy. Similarly, states have a legitimate and perhaps even compelling interest …