A landmark decision by the Supreme Court announced Wednesday upholds a nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure.
Pro-life advocates are hailing the 5-to-4 ruling that a ban on partial birth abortion does not violate a woman's constitutional right to choose.
"It's been a long time coming, and make no mistake about it, this decision is the beginning of the end of Roe. V. Wade, and it's the start of a new era for the respect of our God given right to life," said Rev. Robert Schenk of Faith and Action.
Pro-choice groups are calling this legal defeat a dangerous rollback in women's rights.
"We are going to see a whole new onslaught on restrictions on abortions coming out of this decision," said Nancy Northup of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The Partial Birth Abortion Act signed by President Bush in 2003 outlaws the procedure critics call infanticide.
Clinically called "dilation and extraction," it is performed in the second and third trimesters.
The surgeon uses forceps to pull a fetus out of the birth canal, partially delivering the body up to the head.
Scissors are then forced into the base of the skull to make an opening and a suction catheter is inserted to evacuate the contents, before removing the fetus from the patient.
The narrow decision reveals a shift in the court's direction.
Liberal justices were pitted against conservatives, with the majority hinging on Bush appointees Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy voiced concern over patients not getting information on "the way the fetus is killed."
He wrote " medical profession… may find different and less shocking methods to abort the fetus in the second trimester."
Writing in the minority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg called the decision "alarming , " saying it "applauds federal intervention to ban a procedure found necessary in certain cases."
Republican presidential candidates overwhelmingly support the ruling with Mitt Romney saying it "reaffirmed the value of life. by upholding a ban on a practice that offends basic human decency."
Sen. John McCain also weighed in calling "Partial birth. one of the most odious aspects of abortion."
But Democratic frontrunners were sharply critical.
It's "a dramatic departure from four decades of Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose." said Senator Hillary Clinton.
Senator Barack Obama was concerned it would "embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman's right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to erode Roe v. Wade."
Bush praised the decision saying he would "continue to work for the day when every child is welcomed in life and protected in law."
The high court's decision only highlights the significance of presidential appointments to the bench, and the significance of the 2008 election in a highly-charged debate over the 'right of a woman to control her own body' versus the 'right to life of the unborn.'
