Senate Passes Bill Banning Partial-Birth Abortion

[Simply Emo]

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to ban a procedure that critics call partial birth abortion, a triumph for President Bush and the Republicans who took control of Congress this year.

The 65-32 vote sent the legislation to the GOP-controlled House, where passage is expected this spring.

The lopsided roll call was a marked contrast to three days of emotionally-charged debate in which supporters of the bill attacked the controversial procedure as barbaric and opponents said the measure was the opening he Senate floor. Abortion opponents have been working for eight years to put the ban into law, and with a sympathetic president in the White House, are likely to succeed within a matter of weeks or months.

Abortion rights supporters have pledged a court challenge. "This bill is unconstitutional," argued Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., citing the lack of an exemption in cases where the health of the mother is in jeopardy.

The bill prohibits doctors from committing an "overt act" designed to kill a partially delivered fetus. Partial birth is described as a case in which the entire fetal head is outside the body of the mother, or, in the event of a breech delivery, if "any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother."

The legislation includes an exemption in cases in which the procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother.

The debate over the measure reflected hardened political lines on abortion, an issue that Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said was dividing America as deeply as slavery did in the 19th century. The Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that women had the right to an abortion.

For much of the time since, abortion rights supporters have had enough support in Congress or the White House to fend off most attempts to restrict the rights the court identified in its 1973 ruling.

But beginning in 1995, abortion opponents have focused their efforts on the partial-birth procedure, putting their political foes on the defensive.

Congress twice before passed legislation to impose a ban, but former President Clinton vetoed both measures. A third attempt was sidetracked in 2000 when the Supreme Court invalidated a Nebraska state law that closely resembled the measure moving through the House and Senate. Yet a fourth attempt failed last year when Democrats, then in control of the Senate, refused to schedule a vote.

Abortion rights advocates scored one victory on Wednesday when the Senate voted 52-46 in support of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that gave women the right to end their pregnancies.

Article Continued Here!

Woooooooooooo Hoooooooooooo!

[CatKozTX]

I am thrilled and thankful for this vote, but at the same time am saddened and disheartened by the 32 that opposed it. Where do we go for a list of the opposing voters? I hope they post it somewhere publicly for all to see.

I'm willing to bet most of the ones that are for partial birth abortion are the same ones against the war in Iraq.

I think a little letter writing is in order here people. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Simply Emo]

Originally posted by CatKozTX:
...at the same time am saddened and disheartened by the 32 that opposed it...

Well; think of it many democrats showed a shred of human decency towards the future of Amercia *snickers* [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img]

[Jendetta]

Originally posted by CatKozTX:
I am thrilled and thankful for this vote, but at the same time am saddened and disheartened by the 32 that opposed it. Where do we go for a list of the opposing voters? I hope they post it somewhere publicly for all to see.

I'm willing to bet most of the ones that are for partial birth abortion are the same ones against the war in Iraq.

I think a little letter writing is in order here people. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 108th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate


Vote Summary

Question: On Passage of the Bill (S. 3 As Amended )
Vote Number: 51 Vote Date: March 13, 2003, 09:45 AM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Bill Passed
Measure Number: S. 3 (Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 )
Measure Title: A bill to prohibit the procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion.
Vote Counts: YEAs 64
NAYs 33
Not Voting


NAYs ---33
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Chafee (R-RI)
Clinton (D-NY)
Collins (R-ME)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (D-FL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Snowe (R-ME)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting - 3
*snicker* (political cowards)
Biden (D-DE)
Edwards (D-NC)
Kerry (D-MA)

[Simply Emo]

Originally posted by Jendetta:
Not Voting - 3
*snicker* (political cowards)
Biden (D-DE)
Edwards (D-NC)
Kerry (D-MA)

OH LORD! That is just two sweet; some wimps, I mean Democrat Presidential hopefuls don't want to tread to close to losing their primaries... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[CatKozTX]

I was thinking the same thing Quantum!

Good old Hillary - she makes me seriously ill! That woman doesn't have a single moral principal, does she?

[NRA FOREVER]

Its a step in the right direction,hopefully someday we can pack the courts with enough conservative judges to end the evil of abortion for good.

[DoctorDoom]

Step 1 is complete. Maybe in time there will be no more need for these heart-ripping images of Baby Choice.

<center><a href="http://www.priestsforlife.org/resources/abortionimages/index.htm" target="_blank">

</a></center>