Prayers required.

Justices hear intense arguments on abortion law

The graphic details of a disputed abortion procedure filled the Supreme Court on Wednesday as justices voiced concern with a federal ban on that operation.

Justices brought up uncomfortable images in sharp questions to lawyers on both sides.

The issue: whether Congress was within its rights when it banned a procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion, for which there is little hard data and much disagreement.

"Wouldn't the fetus ... suffer a demise in seconds anyway?" Justice John Paul Stevens asked, focusing on the law's ban on how, rather than whether an abortion may be performed.

Solicitor General Paul Clement replied: "Well it may be seconds, it may be hours."

"Do you not agree that it has no chance of surviving, in most cases?" Stevens asked again.

In an intense morning of arguments, lawyers for the Bush administration and supporters of abortion rights gave starkly contrasting views on the practice:

A law passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in 2003 labels it gruesome, inhumane and never medically necessary. Supporters argue that such abortions sometimes are the safest for women.

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And as dramatic as it is, this probably doesn't do any good: "An anti-abortion protester in the audience began shouting midway through the first of two hours of arguments, briefly disrupting the hearing before police dragged him away." I understand and totally support protesting, but that sort of thing (taking the attention off of actually doing something and focusing it on yourself) just makes us look crazy