Last week, the Supreme Court began hearings on the federal partial-birth abortion ban that would prohibit the gruesome abortion procedure across the country. The court heard oral arguments over the question of whether the procedure is ever medically necessary and whether a health exception should be imposed if the life of the mother is endangered. In 2000, the Court said it was unconstitutional to ban the practice. In 2003, President Bush signed the national partial-birth abortion ban into law, but abortion advocates took it to court in three separate lawsuits and federal courts in each case relied on the earlier Supreme Court decision. The latest discussion included the difference between partial-birth abortions and other abortion procedures. It was determined that the former has the baby being killed while partially outside the mother's womb, as opposed to being destroyed inside the womb in the latter. Did you ever think we'd be having such discussions in a civilized society? Did you ever think you'd see the day when women all across America would willingly participate in the killing of their fully formed fetuses during the last stages of gestation? Partial birth abortion is a cruel and savage procedure, more medieval than modern, and more concerned with sexual permissiveness in the age of irresponsibility, than with the protection of women's health. Yet, this barbaric behavior has been performed with about as much concern as one would give to having a wart removed. This nihilistic approach to human discourse began in the 60's during the age of "free love," and continued into the 70's, as many women became convinced that abortion could be used as a prophylactic measure, thereby allowing them to abandon any sense of discipline or self-restraint. Men could also throw caution to the wind, since a hasty affair that sparked creation of a human life could easily be erased with a checkbook and a surgical instrument. It didn't take long before such "erasures" became big business in a country where money trumps morality. Moreover, it was seized upon as one of the most powerful political ideas in history; simply spread the doctrine that men are oppressing women by refusing to allow them to have control over their own bodies. With half the population as prospects, the scheme had virtually unlimited possibilities. However, in order for it to work, men had to be demonized as rogues and rascals, whose only goal in life was to make women subservient. Feminist philosophy sprouted wings and found its niche in a discontented segment of society. The concentration of potential votes became a political expedient too attractive to repudiate. The gender war had begun, advanced by such well-known lyrics as: I am woman; hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore. Helen Reddy was correct, the numbers made an impact on decisions that would alter the course of history. Abortion on demand has been legal for over 30 years, and has become the Litmus Test for self serving, sycophantic office seekers, willing to support the issue du jour. A single mother raised my 6 siblings and me, so I already knew how strong women are, and I also knew they could roar. They didn't have to use the lives of the unborn to prove their mettle. Furthermore, the ghastly practice of pulling a fetus by its legs with a forceps until the head is visible, then, puncturing the skull with a sharp instrument in order to suck out the brain of the tiny being could never be viewed as an act of courage. By what stretch of the imagination is power derived from destroying a helpless fetus as it struggles for its first breath of air, instinctively expecting the maternal protection afforded by nature? Sadly, that instinct has been cleverly manipulated and genetically redefined by a cadre of power-hungry propagandists with a political agenda. The hateful, separatist rhetoric of militant feminism has horribly disfigured the relationship between the sexes, resulting in the pagan-like ritual described above. Opponents of the ban, as was expected, say the measure is designed to turn back the clock on women's progress. Of course, it's axiomatic that those groups who seek power by pitting one gender against another can only survive if the hostility is continuously fed. One of the biggest problems in our country is that you're nothing if you're not allied with some "victimized" group. However, it's important to keep in mind that when your victim-hood is your empowerment, recovery is the enemy. Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the excutive editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas. Email Bob