Today in a 5-4 vote, the U. S. Supreme Court upheld the partial-birth abortion ban stating the opponents of the act "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases."

Those voting for the ban included Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia – and the swing vote was Justice Anthony Kennedy (who actually wrote the majority opinion – a pleasant surprise since his dissent was notable in 2000 when the Court voted 5-4 to overturn the ban). Stating in the majority opinion, "The Act proscribes a method of abortion in which a fetus is killed just inches before completion of the birth process...Congress determined that the abortion methods it proscribed had a 'disturbing similarity to the killing of a newborn infant'..." He also said, "The law need not give abortion doctors unfettered choice in the course of their medical practice."

Predictably, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg voted against the ban and wrote the minority opinion stating, "Today’s decision is alarming….the ruling refuses to take seriously previous Supreme Court decisions on abortion." Ginsberg went on to say the latest decision "tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists."

It will forever be a mystery to me how a woman who has carried a baby close to her heart could have such a cold, callous view of life and believe that a baby – a moment away from birth – can be killed.

The other Justices who voted against the ban were Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens.

Thanks be to God for the Justices who were willing to vote to uphold the ban on this gruesome procedure. Let us pray that this is the beginning of steps to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision handed down by the Court in 1973 that wove out of whole cloth a "right to privacy" in our Constitution for women to abort their babies.