The political debate of abortion came to focus as early as the 1820's, while late-term abortion did not gain attention until 1973 during the U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade (Chicago Tribune). The case held that women's right to an abortion is not absolute, and that states may ban or restrict abortions after fetal viability. Viable simply means capable of working successfully, or in other words, if the fetus were to be delivered at the time of abortion it would have the capacity to survive the premature birth. Along with this ruling came restrictions stating that even when fetal viability has been confirmed, states cannot ban abortion completely if it is "necessary to preserve the life or health,  of the woman, with "health, pertaining to both the physical and mental state; that a only a physician could hold a final decision on the health of the mother and the viability of the fetus; and that states could not require an opinion of a second physician" (Guttmacher Institute). Many state legislatures have attempted to restrict laws further than what Roe vs. Wade allows, but the court ruling has held it's ground through the past 40 years. Other government landmarks on late-term abortion include the 1996 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which was vetoed by President Bill Clinton after passing through congress. Partial-birth is the term used when a fetus is partially vaginally delivered and then terminated before the delivery is complete. The act would have outlawed such procedures and subjected any physician who knowingly completed a partial-birth abortion to fines or imprisonment (Congressional Research Service). Several years after the veto, in 2000, the state of Nebraska attempted to pass a law that similarly stated it was illegal to perform an abortion in which the woman is induced to "partially evacuate fetal material through the cervix into the birth canal. The supreme court ruled that this ban was unconstitutionally vague and lacked protection of the mother's health, a requirement outlined in Roe v. Wade. Opponents of a late-term abortion ban stand in defence of the mother. The restrictions put in place on the ruling of Roe v. Wade state that women have the right to an abortion after viability, if it is "necessary to preserve the life or health, of the woman." This fits perfectly into the anti-ban agenda because it allows for a choice. Opponents stress that it is the woman's body, not the Supreme Court or the United States government's body, therefore she has the right to make any and all decisions regarding her own pregnancy, as long as the reasoning is pertaining to a matter of life or health. Opponents of a late-term abortion ban often refer to stories of women whose fetus was diagnosed with a severely debilitating disease during the later weeks of pregnancy. One commonly used story is of a boy named Andrew, whose mother opted out of a late-term abortion knowing that her son had been diagnosed with extreme birth defects. "For two weeks Andrew lay still, incoherent, from drugs, with his stomach, his liver, spleen and small and large intestines exposed. He was given drugs that kept him paralyzed, still able to feel pain but unable to move. Andrew had IV's in his head, arms, and feet. He was kept alive on a respirator for six weeks, unable to breathe on his own. He had tubes in his nose and throat to continually suction his stomach and lungs. Andrew's liver was lacerated and bled. He received eight blood transfusions and suffered a brain hemorrhage. Andrew's heart was pulled to the right side of his body. He contracted a series of blood infections and developed hy