Local groups and politicians disagree over a bill the U.S. Senate plans to vote on prohibiting late-term or partial-birth abortions.

In a late-term or partial-birth abortion, the doctor partially delivers the fetus from the birth canal. It is then "killed" and removed, according to the version of the bill available on a U.S. government Web site.

Representatives for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) said Durbin would likely vote against the bill and Fitzgerald for it.

Laura Miller, spokeswoman for Fitzgerald, said the senator was a co-sponsor of the upcoming bill and had long been a proponent of such legislation. She said Fitzgerald was a co-sponsor of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which extend protective rights to unborn children and those born outside the womb.

Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker said the senator would "likely oppose" the bill as it was written. Shoemaker said Durbin proposed an amendment to the bill allowing doctors to perform late-term abortion procedures if the mother's health was endangered. The amendment was struck down.

"Senator Durbin wants the ability to handle this thing on a case-by-case basis," Shoemaker said.

He added that Durbin had been one of the more outspoken members of the pro-choice camp since being elected to the Senate.

U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson (R-15) was one of 218 House Republicans to vote for the bill. Spokesman Matt Bisbee said Johnson's vote was true to his pro-life stance.

"(Johnson) believes the partial-birth abortion process to be an extremely gruesome process and therefore he does not support that," Bisbee said.

Kathy Spegal, director of community affairs for Planned Parenthood of East Central Illinois, said those opposing the bill will be quick to appeal if the Senate approves it and President Bush signs it into law.

"This is a choice between a woman and her physician and we do not feel that this is something that should be legislated or take place among a bunch of legislators," Spegal said. "Only a woman and her doctor know what is best for her."

Spegal added that late-term abortions account for less than 1 percent of all abortions performed.

"People are making mountains out of molehills," she said.

Lori Dieterle, president of Campus for Choice and sophomore in business, also disagreed with the bill. She said the bill took away the right to a safe and legal abortion.

Campus for Choice campaigns with pro-choice candidates and petitions lawmakers to vote on pro-choice legislation, Dieterle said.

"It's basically the government making a decision about another person's body and what she can or can't do with it," Dieterle said. "All they want to do is chip away at the pieces of Roe v. Wade without thinking about a woman's body or her safety."

John Cromley, president of Illini Collegians for Life and senior in engineering, called the late-term abortion procedure a "gross insult to human life."

Cromley said Illini Collegians for Life works to oppose abortion and provide information about alternatives to abortion.

"This procedure amounts to nothing more than infanticide," Cromley said.