Proponents of the ban dramatized their arguments by showing graphic photographs of fetuses along with gruesome descriptions of the procedure. Opponents of the bill offered up the emotional stories of pregnant women who submitted to such abortions rather than face life-threatening risks for delivery or give birth to severely deformed children.
The debate revealed the deep chasm between two sides on an issue that taps deeply into religious convictions and concerns about the nature of American culture.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), the leading proponent of the bill, said casual acceptance of this procedure had coarsened the morals of the entire society.
"It dulls our senses," said Santorum, standing on the Senate floor in front of a drawing of a fetus. "It has a corrupting effect not just in how we treat the little one here, but on how we treat each other."
Supporters of the ban said the procedure was outside the medical mainstream, performed only to make an abortion go more quickly, not more safely.
"It is a fringe procedure," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who is a surgeon. "The sole purpose of partial-birth abortion is to deliver a dead baby. It is not, as some insist, to protect the life of the mother."
But critics of the bill noted that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also opposed the ban, in part because its members believed the legislation was so broadly written that it would outlaw a wide range of common abortion procedures, not just dilation and extraction.
The critics also argued that it trampled on a woman's constitutional right to privacy and injected the government into decisions they said should be left to a woman and her doctor.
"What kind of a country would say to half of the population, 'We don't trust you'?" said Boxer. "We think you would choose murder."
While the Senate's vote ended the legislative process for now, the legal and political ramifications are expected to continue to ripple for years to come.
Three court challenges are being prepared by different abortion-rights advocates.
Because many legal experts have said there is a good chance the law eventually will be found unconstitutional, critics charged that the bill was pushed simply to keep the issue alive to mobilize antiabortion activists.
"This is clearly a political bill designed to fan the flames," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who, like Boxer, voted against the bill.
