Below the fold:

• Supreme Court Upholds Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act;
• Breaking: Supreme Court Upholds Federal Ban on Partial Birth Abortion
• Breaking: Supreme Court upholds federal ban on partial-birth abortion; Update: Ginsburg cries paternalism; Update: Decision was correct, says Rudy

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Supreme Court Upholds Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act

WASHINGTON —  The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench.

The 5-4 ruling said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

Click here to read the full Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

The opponents of the act "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.

The decision pitted the court's conservatives against its liberals, with President Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Robertsand Justice Samuel Alito, siding with the majority.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia also were in the majority.

It was the first time the court banned a specific procedure in a case over how — not whether — to perform an abortion. ...

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Breaking: Supreme Court Upholds Federal Ban on Partial Birth Abortion
Kim Priestap

Finally, some common sense from the SCOTUS on this evil, disgusting, and unnecessary procedure that was nothing short of infanticide:

The 5-4 ruling said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

The opponents of the act "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.

The decision pitted the court's conservatives against its liberals, with President Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, siding with the majority.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia also were in the majority.

It was the first time the court banned a specific procedure in a case over how--not whether--to perform an abortion.

Most Americans, even those who are pro-choice, understand how sick this procedure was. If a late term pregnancy was so harmful to the mother's health, then the mother should just deliver the baby and give the baby a chance to survive. But this procedure wasn't really about saving the life of the mother. It was about killing an unwanted baby.

Keep in mind, Anthony Kennedy, who regularly voted to in support of Roe v Wade, voted with the majority in this case and wrote the majority opinion. Allahpundit makes a very interesting point about this last fact: ...

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Breaking: Supreme Court upholds federal ban on partial-birth abortion; Update: Ginsburg cries paternalism; Update: Decision was correct, says Rudy
Allahpundit

Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion? This is like Darth Vader throwing the Emperor down the well at the end of ROTJ.

Stand by for updates.

Update: Lyle Denniston notes that the Court struck down a state ban on partial-birth abortion in 2000. Why’d they change their mind on the federal law? Because Sam Alito has replaced Sandra Day O’Connor, who voted consistently with the liberal wing in abortion cases. It’s the first time the Court has upheld a total ban on a specific procedure, says Denniston.

Update: By way of background, Kennedy co-wrote the famous plurality opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 that reaffirmed Roe v. Wade. At the time the Court had seven Republican appointees, so it was widely expected that Roe would be overturned.

If the Chief Justice is in the majority, as Roberts was here, it falls to him to decide who’s responsible for writing the majority opinion. Kennedy probably got the call for two reasons: one, having an author of the Casey opinion put his name on today’s decision lends it a bit of extra authority, and two, since Kennedy is a fencesitter on this issue, Roberts wants to do what little he can to “lock him in” to anti-abortion precedent by making him as personally invested in it as possible. ...