It is a step forward, albeit a modest one. The Court had previously ruled that the partial birth abortion ban failed the Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling because its ambiguity effectively result in a ban of all second term D&E procedures and there was no exception for the "health" of the mother. When they say health, they don't mean life of the mother, they mean, mental health or other helath conditions normally related to child birth.
The new law specified more clearly the intention to ban "intact" D&E's. Again, there was no exception for the health of the mother.
What this means is that a second trimester D&E can still be performed. As the dissenting opinion points out, "Nonintact D&E could equally be characterized as 'brutal,' involving as it does 'tear[ing] [a fetus] apart' and 'ripp[ing] off' its limbs. '[T]he notion that either of these two equally gruesome procedures ... is more akin to infanticide than the other, or that the State furthers any legitimate interest by banning one but not the other, is simply irrational.'" [Citations Omitted.]
So, I think Romney appropriately calls it a step forward. I am not satisfied though and I don't necessarily think it will save lives, as another Republican candidate suggested.
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