A U.S. bishops' conference aide welcomed the news that the Supreme Court will reconsider a federal ban on partial-birth abortion.

On Tuesday the court announced that it will review Gonzales v. Carhart, the partial-birth abortion ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"We welcome the news that the Supreme Court will take a new look at partial-birth abortion," said Deirdre McQuade, a spokeswoman for the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.

"Abortion advocates once said the procedure was rare, and used only on women whose lives were in danger or whose unborn children were dying or severely disabled," McQuade said.

"But Ron Fitzsimmons, then executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, admitted in 1997 that partial-birth abortions are 'primarily done on healthy women and healthy fetuses,'" McQuade added. "The Alan Guttmacher Institute estimates that 2,200 abortions were performed in 2000 using this grotesque method."

"Partial-birth abortion is not necessary for women's physical or emotional health," the bishops' aide added. "We are hopeful that the federal ban on partial-birth abortion will be upheld."