The Senate voted Tuesday to ban so-called “partial-birth” abortions, marking the end of eight years of legislative skirmishes and the beginning of a major court battle, which could begin even before President Bush signs the bill into law, which he’s said he’ll do.

This will become the first federal ban on a specific abortion method since a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion was established by the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

As Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel writes in her weblog, this bill is just the latest in a series of increasingly aggressive assaults on women that Bush and his Administration have been launching since he took office. As abortion-rights activists like NARAL’s Kate Michelman are pointing out, no one should be fooled as to the real intentions of this bill’s sponsors: they want to take away a woman’s right to choose.

Fortunately, there are numerous groups mobilizing in opposition: The Feminist Campus Network is planning protests and lobbying campaigns and is helping with what organizers hope will be a good, old-fashioned, massive march on Washington on April 25. The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, headquartered in Washington, DC, works with twenty-two affiliates in states nationwide to conduct educational, lobbying and media efforts. NARAL and Planned Parenthood are both in the trenches slugging it out with the Bush appointees looking to choke off funding for virtually all social programs. The Abortion Access Project is increasing abortion services by training new abortion providers. And the California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League is promoting good tips on combating the radical right’s toxic effect on public policy.