Fw: House moves forward with ban on partial-birth abortion

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> From: Steven A. Ertelt <ertelt@prolife.org>
> To: Steve Ertelt <ertelt@prolife.org>
> Subject: House moves forward with ban on partial-birth abortion
> Date: Wednesday, October 08, 1997 2:02 PM
> 
> House moves forward with ban on partial-birth abortion
> 
> The U.S. House brought a ban on partial-birth abortions one step closer
to
> reality today by adopting the amended Senate version of the ban. The
> Senate voted in May to accept the ban the House previously passed in
March
> but added three minor amendments agreed to by the authors of the ban and
> the American Medical Association, which later endorsed the bill.
> 
> Members voted 296-132 to pass the ban on partial-birth abortions, ten
> votes more than the necessary two-thirds majority needed to override a
> presidential veto. President Clinton has indicated he will veto the bill
> despite new information that contradicts his previous reasons for vetoing
> the ban. In voting, 217 Republicans and 79 Democrats voted in favor of
the
> bill while 8 Republicans and 123 Democrats voted against it (Independent 
  
> Rep. Bernie Sanders voted no). The House had previously accepted the ban
> 295-136.
> 
> Supporters of the ban say three additional votes on the Senate side are
> necessary to override the expected presidential veto.
> 
> Before considering the ban, members debated the "rule" which stipulates
> the parameters for debate. The proposed "rule" disallowed an amendment to
> allow partial-birth abortions for the specious "health" of the mother
> reason.
> 
> In the summer of 1996, an organization called the Physicians' Ad Hoc
> Coalition for Truth (PHACT), a coalition of over 230 physicians, said:
> "Congress, the public-- but most importantly women-- need to know that
> partial-birth abortion is never medically indicated to protect a mother's
> health or her future fertility."   
> 
> Members voted 279-145 to vote on the rule and then adopted the debate
rule
> by voice vote.
> 
> Pro-life Representative Charles Canady (R-FL) led the debate for the
> "motion to concur" with the Senate amendments on the partial-birth
> abortion ban. Those amendments included requiring doctors to use every
> other method possible to save the unborn child in cases where the
> pregnancy may jeopardize the life of the mother before using a
> partial-birth abortion.  Another amendment called for a 30-day State
> Medical Board review of an abortion practitioner charged for performing a
> partial-birth abortion.
> 
> Representatives who spoke out in favor of the ban on partial-birth
> abortion include: Sue Myrick (R-NC) Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jon Christensen
> (R-NE), Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Dave Weldon
> (R-FL), Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Henry Hyde (R-IL). 
> 
> Pro-abortion Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) led the debate on behalf of
> pro-abortion members against the ban on partial-birth abortion.
> 
> Pro-life Democrats also spoke in favor the partial-birth abortion ban.
> Rep. Jim Barcia (D-MI) noted, "A couple from Michigan could have chosen
to
> abort their baby when the mother found out the baby had a tumor." He went
> on to explain how the child received prenatal surgery and now is a
> healthy, active toddler.
> 
> Congressman Tim Roemer (D-IN), another pro-life Democrat, said the ban
had
> "everything to do with banning a procedure that is, in effect, legalized
> infanticide." He quoted former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop who noted
> that partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary and could
> endanger the mothers health.
> 
> Representatives who spoke against the partial-birth abortion ban included
> Stenny Hoyer (D-MD), Chet Edwards (D-TX), Rosa Delauro (D-CT), Lynne  
> Woolsey (D-CA), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Bob Wise (D-WV), Bobby Scott (D-VA),
> Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Elizabeth Furse (D-OR)
> and Eleanor Norton (D-DC)
> 
> The bill's sponsor, Rep. Charles Canady (R-FL) noted that partial-birth
> abortions are never necessary to protect the health of the mother. He
> cited several abortionists who confirmed that most of the partial-birth
> abortions they performed were for elective reasons. Canady also pointed
> out how Ron Fitzsimmons, the head of a national coalition of abortion
> facilities, admitted he had lied in numerous points about the
> partial-birth abortion procedure - points President Bill Clinton claimed
> were sufficient to veto the bill.
> 
> Pro-life champion Henry Hyde closed the debate. "This isn't politics....
> By any definition partial-birth abortion is cruel and unusual
> punishment....  We can no longer treat people as objects."
> 
> "There is a challenge I would like to make," Hyde concluded comparing his
> challenge to the one President Ronald Reagan made to Michael Gorbachev
> regarding the Berlin Wall, "Mr. President, sign this bill."
> 
> The roll call for this vote will appear on The Armchair Lobbyist
> (http://www.prolife.org/tal) by Friday, October 10. To receive daily
> pro-life news and information at no cost from the Pro-Life Infonet, send
a
> request to infonet-mod@prolife.org