He also spoke of the issue most identified with the Conservatives in recent years: what opponents call partial-birth abortion.

Defense of the medical procedure that critics call partial-birth abortion, he said, "was not right with the American people."

But what they're calling abortion is almost anything people use to prevent pregnancy.

The bill would allow the procedure, which critics call partial-birth abortion, only if a woman's life were in danger.

But the law's supporters argue, by contrast, that what the ban attacks is not even properly called abortion at all.

She has called abortion a "sad, even tragic choice."

When performed to restore health the operation is called therapeutic abortion.

This was the start of what opponents called "abortion on demand."

Did not vote on banning the procedure opponents call "partial-birth abortion" when it came up.

The wrenching debate in the Senate last week was about more than what critics call partial-birth abortion.