Back to the Dianne Partial Birth Abortion Page
Saturday, January 18, 2003At least five similar measures may be in works, observers say
WASHINGTON -- With the 30th anniversary next week of the U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision in Roe v. Wade, Republican lawmakers say they have enough votes to approve a ban on a method of abortion that critics call "partial-birth" abortion.
Supporters of abortion rights say they fear that Congress and President Bush are aiming to broadly curb abortion rights and could be on the brink of approving at least five measures to restrict abortion.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a leading abortion foe, said the mood in Congress is shifting toward protecting "the rights of the unborn."
"I think you're going to see the first major pro-life legislation pass the U.S. Congress in 30 years," Brownback said, referring to the so-called partial-birth abortion ban.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., an abortion foe, said he would get the Senate to act on the ban. Democratic leaders of the Senate in the past simply refused to bring it up for floor action.
Frist, the Senate's only physician and who carries considerable weight on health care matters, said "partial-birth" abortion should be banned as "an abhorrent procedure that offends the civil sensibilities of just about every American."
The procedure, called dilation and extraction, involves pulling the fetus part way out of the uterus feet first.
The skull is then punctured while still in the uterus and the brain is suctioned out, causing the skull to collapse, killing the fetus and easing passage through the birth canal.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists opposes the so-called "partial-birth abortion" legislation, saying the language could be easily interpreted to include many other widely used abortion techniques.
The group said the law would have "a chilling effect on the practice of medicine, leading doctors with an understandable fear of prosecution to avoid medical procedures or surgical techniques that could in any way fall within the scope of such legislation."
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., the sponsor of the "partial-birth abortion" ban, predicted that the measure would pass the Senate "hopefully in the first half of this year."
A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll this month showed that 70 percent of the 1,002 adults surveyed said they would support banning the so-called "partial birth" abortion procedure in the last six months of pregnancy, except in cases necessary to save the life of the mother.
"I think the Republicans are going to make a big push to nibble away at abortion rights -- and we're going to fight them all the way," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., pledged to fight the ban, saying the "partial birth" legislation would prohibit more than late-term abortions and could apply to other legal abortion procedures.
In fact, the Supreme Court in 2000 and other federal courts have interpreted partial-birth abortion state laws as sufficiently vague to constitute a broad ban on most abortions at any stage of pregnancy.
Feinstein said "this is not the time for a full-blown floor debate on abortion," with the United States contemplating war with Iraq.
Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group formerly known as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, predicted the ban would become law.
The House approved the ban four times, in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2002 and twice overrode President Clinton's veto. But Senate supporters of the bill couldn't muster the necessary 67 votes to override the vetoes.
Now, with Republicans at the helm of the Senate and the White House, supporters say they have the 60 votes needed to pass controversial legislation.
Abortion foes also hope Congress will pass a measure that would ban human cloning both for reproduction and medical research.
Cloning involves experimenting with human embryos and many critics liken it to murder because the embryos are invariably killed.
Frist backs a ban on medical research cloning, saying he opposes any process that creates an embryo with the purpose of destroying it.
Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, said abortion foes would push Congress and the White House to bring up the cloning measure soon.
But supporters of medical research say the technique could be used to treat a range of diseases because the resulting therapies would match the patient's own genetic material, thereby avoiding the problem of rejection.
Also on the GOP agenda are:
A measure making it a separate crime to harm an embryo or a fetus during an attack on a pregnant woman; the bill has passed the House twice but has never come before the Senate.
101 Elliott Ave. W. A bill that would let hospitals and other health care providers refuse to provide abortions or give referrals for abortion services without losing federal money. The measure passed the House last year. Legislation to make it a crime to evade parental notification laws by accompanying a minor across state lines for an abortion, which has passed the House three times. All three of these proposals are expected to clear the House but face pitched battles in the Senate, said Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, adding: "The advantage is clearly going to be on the side of the pro-life movement."
DeWine is an abortion opponent.
Michael Schwartz, a spokesman for Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, said anti-abortion advocates are energized because "this is the first time since Roe v. Wade that all three policy-making branches have been under control of pro-life leadership."
Abortion could become a key issue in the 2004 presidential election, kicked off by a Tuesday event when the six Democratic candidates for president plan to appear at a fund-raiser for NARAL, to commemorate the Jan. 22, 1973 ruling removing restrictions on abortion.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
©1996-2003 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
