Congress has sent a "partial birth abortion" ban to the president, who is salivating at the prospect of signing it.
What's really bizarre about the bill (other than the fact that there is no such thing as "partial birth abortion" -- a political label with no medical meaning) is that it makes no exceptions for the health of the mother.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a heart surgeon, said the ban could save the lives of thousands of soon-to-be-born babies.
"I can say without equivocation that partial birth abortion is brutal, it is barbaric, it is morally offensive, and it is outside the mainstream practice of medicine," he said.
Another physician-politician, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean (news - web sites), said it is the women who need the procedure whose lives were put at risk by Tuesday's Senate vote.
"As a physician, I am outraged that the Senate has decided it is qualified to practice medicine," said Dean, a former governor of Vermont. He said the legislation "will endanger the lives of countless women."
Roll call:
Senate Republicans voting against the ban
Chaffee
Collins
Snowe
(Hutchison didn't vote)
Senate Democrats voting for the ban
Bayh
Biden
Breaux
Bird
Carper
Conrad
Daschle (!)
Dorgan
Hollings
Johnson
Landrieu
Leahy
Lincoln
Miller
Nelson
Prior
Reid
(Edwards didn't vote)