BY PEGGY SINANIAN

ATLANTA--Gov. Zell Miller signed a bill banning partial-birth abortions in Georgia March 25 after the state House voted 132-43 the night before to ban the procedure. The state Senate had earlier voted for the ban.

"I am pro-choice, but I believe this bill strikes a delicate, proper balance on this sensitive issue--the balance between a woman's right to choose and reasonable restrictions on abortion," Gov. Miller said after the House vote.

The provisions of the bill do not bar late-term abortions, but prohibit a particular method of abortion by which "the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living human fetus before ending the life of the fetus and completing the delivery." In the bill the fetus is defined as "the biological offspring of human parents."

The Georgia law outlaws the procedure except when a woman's life is in danger. Doctors who perform it when a woman's life is not in danger could be punished with fines and imprisonment. The law states anyone knowingly performing such a procedure shall be punished by a "fine not to exceed $5,000, imprisonment for not more than five years, or both." Both the father of the child and the maternal grandparents have recourse to civil action. The woman upon whom the procedure is performed may not be prosecuted.

Key legislators in the abortion debate included Rep. Ron Crews (R-78th District), a resident of Tucker and pastor of the New Covenant Community Church, who led the fight for the ban and Rep. Jim Martin of Atlanta (D-47th District), who opposed letting the bill out of the Judiciary Committee which he chairs.

In the Senate, the legislation was introduced by Sens. Terrell Starr (D-44th District), Sonny Perdue (D-18th District) and Don Balfour (R-9th District), with 43 upholding passage and 11 voting against the ban. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-42th District), who earlier voiced objections, was the only senator to abstain from the vote. There were five abstentions in the House.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Georgia chapter of the National Organization of Women and other women's groups have threatened legal action to block the ban, calling the measure unconstitutional and vague.

Sinanian is head of the archdiocesan Pro-Life Office.