House backs abortion bill
The Detroit News
Thursday, June 5, 2003
By Jim Abrams of the Associated Press
House Backs Abortion BillProposal to ban 'partial birth' method moves closer to law, but court challenge is likely
WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to ban a procedure that abortion foes call "partial birth" abortion, moving the restriction a crucial step closer to President Bush's signature. With the 282-139 vote, Congress was on the verge of ending the practice. Abortion rights groups said they would challenge it in court as soon as it becomes law, thrusting the issue of the ban's constitutionality toward a divided Supreme Court. The ban would be one of the most significant restrictions on abortion since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision recognizing abortion rights. Ken Connor, president of the anti-abortion Family Research Council, said passage was indicative of "a tide that is running against Roe v. Wade, which will eventually be dismantled." President Bush hailed passage of the legislation he said "will help build a culture of life in America. I urge Congress to quickly resolve any differences and send me the final bill as soon as possible so that I can sign it into law." Bush -- unlike former President Clinton, who twice vetoed partial birth abortion bans -- urged Congress in his State of the Union address in January to give him a bill he could sign. The Senate passed a nearly identical bill in March, but differences with the House must still be ironed out before the legislation is sent to the president. Abortion opponents have pushed the bill since Republicans captured the House in 1995. "Partial birth abortion is a gruesome and inhumane procedure and it is a grave attack against human dignity and justice. This practice must be banned," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., at the opening of the debate. Under the bill, partial birth abortion is defined as a procedure in which the fetus is killed after the fetal head is outside the body of the mother or, in the case of breech presentation, "any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother." Physicians who perform the procedure would be subject to up to two years in prison. Opponents of the bill cited a 2000 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a similar Nebraska law as unconstitutional, and said women would still have access to late-term abortions using other procedures. "Passing an unconstitutional bill will not save one life," said Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas.
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