The ban prohibits the "late" termination of a pregnancy after 20 weeks via dilation and extraction, which is known as a "partial-birth" abortion procedure. It changes the federal criminal code to make it a crime for any physician to knowingly perform this procedure. The ban also gives power to the birth father and grandparents to file a civil suit against a mother who accesses a late-term abortion.

Only about 0.2% of the 1.3 million abortions believed to be performed in 2000 fell into this category, "and contrary to the claims of some abortion opponents, most ["late-term"] abortions do not take place in the third trimester of pregnancy, or after fetal 'viability,'" (Rovener, 2006), but rather between 20 and 24 weeks.