America is at a morally defining moment. Even though three in four Americans favor a federal bill banning the horrifying technique of "partial-birth abortion," President Clinton has repeatedly vetoed the bill. This procedure is never necessary, not even to "save the life of the mother."

The Supreme Court recently heard arguments to decide the fate of state laws banning partial-birth abortions. The court must uphold these laws.

This procedure is so shocking that only sketchy details of it can be printed. Used in abortions in the 32nd week of pregnancy or later, this procedure pulls the unsuspecting child from the womb intact Å not to the birth she has patiently waited for, but to the death she never imagined.

As forceps pull the legs from the womb, the skull is punctured and a suction tube is inserted to remove the contents of the head so the baby can pass through the cervix in one piece.

The brutal, calculated killing of an innocent person makes abortion the most flagrant human rights violation in the world today. It is killing for convenience. Abortion is the choice to destroy the body and soul of a baby boy or girl.

Yet Roe vs. Wade makes abortion legal until the moment of birth. Abortion law allows human beings no rights until they can breathe. Even a "fetus" with its legs kicking outside the womb before the abortionist kills it is not a child with rights.

Can any abortion be punished by law? Have pre-born children no legal protections even in the eighth or ninth month of pregnancy?

Abortion advocates will never concede that the pre-born have any rights. Allowing the pre-born child rights and personhood at any point prior to birth would jeopardize all abortions.

That's why abortion advocates are willing to allow the killing of perfectly formed babies; even in the eighth and ninth months, even when they pose no threats to the health of their mothers Ä just because the mother doesn't want her baby boy or girl.

This flagrant violation of human rights and decency threatens every person's rights. Our nation was dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal and possess unalienable rights. These are natural rights which are ours from the moment of our creation. Governments are instituted to secure those rights.

This proposition caused us to progressively and inclusively over time realize and enforce the rights and equality of all people. Roe vs. Wade reversed the process of inclusion and excluded the pre-born child from the human family.

Allowing partial-birth abortion makes other evils inevitable. If one group can be stripped of its rights, others can be too. Where is the sense of justice that makes it perfectly legal to kill an unborn child one minute before birth, yet brings the full force of the law against parents who kill their children one minute after birth?

Abortion is an immoral riptide sweeping us out to the sea of inhumanity. A generation raised on choice is coming of age, as little children are beating and shooting one another, sometimes with fatal consequences.

There is no difference between performing a partial-birth abortion and placing a newborn in a bag and suffocating her in a closet. If we cannot say that late-term abortions are wrong, we cannot convince our young persons that killing of any kind is wrong.

This is a defining moment. The pre-born child is pleading her case: "Will you find the courage to acknowledge my humanity and my unalienable right to exist in your society, or will you give my life away to the convenience of abortion?"

Our answer and the court's answer must be yes to life before increasing inhumanities destroy our nation. Humanity denied anywhere threatens humanity everywhere.

Don Nelson is president of Nevada Life issues Forum and Education (www.nevadalife.org). He writes from Sparks, Nevada.

Photo Adds Fuel To Debate

The Associated Press

DOUGLASVILLE, GA Ä Samuel Armas' parents love to show off photos of their baby boy, particularly one taken nearly four months before he was born.

The photo, shot during in-utero surgery to correct a birth defect, shows Samuel's penny-sized fist reaching outside Julie Armas womb, grasping at a doctor's finger.

That tiny fist has added fuel to an international abortion debate, appearing on anti-abortion billboards in Ireland and in newspaper in France, Germany, Norway, Singapore and the United States.

Abortion opponents say the image shows fetuses Å even at only 21 weeks Å are viable and aware.

Abortion-rights supporters say the parents' decision to have fetal surgery to correct spina bifida is a good example of how every woman should have the right to determine the course of her pregnancy.

Julie Armas and her husband, Alex, 29, allowed USA Today in the operating room for an article on the surgical team at Nashville's Vanderbilt University.

As Dr. Joseph Bruner prepared to close the womb. Samuel rolled over and thrust his fist through the surgical opening. Bruner gently tucked the tiny hand back inside and finished the procedure.

Free-lance photographer Michael Clancy captured the moment. "It shows a baby before when we would consider it to be viable. Clearly you have a tiny hand," said Laura Echevarria, spokeswoman for the National Right to Life Committee. "With the notoriety the picture has garnered, we're seeing people becoming more educated about fetal development. With that knowledge comes a renewed respect for life."

Abortion-rights supporters, however, say the photo doesn't hurt their cause.

"This is one of the prime examples of where it must be between the doctor and the family," said Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women. "Just as the decision to have in-utero surgery was made in this case, it cannot be a political decision. It has to be a decision made by the woman that's carrying the fetus."

HOW MUCH WILL GOD TAKE BEFORE JUDGMENT COMES TO AMERICA