Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - New legislation to ban the partial birth abortion procedure has been introduced in the House, and the proposal is specifically geared to answer the most recent objections to such a ban articulated by the Supreme Court.

In the Stenberg vs. Carhart case, the Supreme Court held that Nebraska's ban on partial birth abortions was unconstitutional because it had "the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus."

Simon Heller, a consulting attorney for the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, who argued Carhart's case against the state of Nebraska, claims the new Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2002 (H.R. 4965) imposes the same burden.

"The bill, as written, is clearly unconstitutional," he told members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution Tuesday. "It jeopardizes women's health."

But Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), chairman of the subcommittee and sponsor of the bill, believes the proposal meets the Supreme Court's tests.

"The language in this legislation has been tightened up," he said. "The definition is more precise than it was in previous congressionally-passed legislation, or the Nebraska partial birth abortion ban."

Professor Robert Destro of the Columbia School of Law agrees. He said the differences between H.R. 4965 and previous attempts to ban partial birth abortion at the federal level are based, in large part, on Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's opinion in the Carhart case.

"That's why this statute is viewed as being such a threat, because it does, in fact, ask Justice O'Connor to consider, very specifically, where is the dividing line between the power of Congress to legislate on behalf of the life of the fetus, and the ending point of the woman's 'right' to terminate a pregnancy," he said. "Does Roe vs. Wade necessarily suggest that she has the right to a dead fetus?"

The statute draws a distinction between "terminating a pregnancy," which the court has ruled is protected and "an overt act that the person knows will kill a partially-delivered living fetus, whose body has cleared the birth canal" to a certain point.

Destro says the question justices will have to answer is: "Is this overt act ... of killing the fetus necessary to preserve the life and the health of the mother?"

Dr. Curtis Cook is a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist, and a professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. As an expert in "high risk obstetrics," he believes the Supreme Court will have to answer that question "no" and find the bill constitutional.

"Never in the ten years that I have been providing perinatal care to women with complicated pregnancies have I ever experienced a single clinical situation where partial birth abortion has ever been required or even considered as a clinically superior procedure to other well-known and readily available medical and surgical options," said Cook, who is board certified by both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

As abortionists admitted in court testimony, he noted, the procedure is almost exclusively performed on healthy mothers with healthy babies usually between 20 to 26 weeks, or five to six months into the pregnancy.

"These infants are literally inches away from enjoying the full rights afforded any other American citizen, including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," Cook added.

"This is what separates [partial birth abortion] from other abortion techniques," he said. "This is taking place outside the womb and this is taking place on an infant who is literally just about to be born."

Even the American Medical Association, which typically opposes government intervention in medical matters, calls the procedure "bad medicine," Cook said, noting some of the more serious health risks inherent in the procedure.

"The ones that I see are the more prolonged health risks; the concerns about this massive over-dilation of the cervix with 15 to 25 dilators, during this three-day process, to effect this partial birth abortion. These women then have cervical weakness, and an inability to carry pregnancies in subsequent pregnancies," he explained. "It's not only not necessary to protect women's health, it may be endangering their health."

Destro says overwhelming medical evidence, such as that described by Cook, could sway the Supreme Court to allow this carefully constructed ban on partial birth abortions.

"Justice O'Connor wants to hear what the facts are, she has the controlling vote on this," he concluded. "In a properly litigated, thoroughly litigated case, this one could be won."