Washington – Acting to further chip away at abortion rights ahead of the fall congressional elections, Senate Republicans on Tuesday pushed through legislation making it a federal crime to evade parental- consent laws by taking minors across state lines for abortions.
The 65-34 Senate vote – which came a week after a controversial bill on stem-cell research divided several leading Republicans from their anti- abortion base – gave the party another plank for its “values” agenda.
Colorado Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar voted for the bill.
Building on parental-consent requirements in many states, the vote marked another victory in the drive by abortion opponents to limit access to the procedure with small measures that stop short of an all-out ban.
“Americans have been saying, ‘Can’t we at least find some reasonable middle ground? Can’t we find some ground to at least make some reasonable restrictions on abortion?”‘ said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who sponsored the Senate bill. “This is a reasonable piece of legislation.”
The bill must still be reconciled with a slightly different House measure passed last year. Republicans in both chambers said Tuesday they were confident that would be done before Congress recesses for the fall elections.
President Bush said he would sign the legislation.
There are no figures on the number of minors who cross state lines in an effort to avoid telling their parents that they are getting abortions. But though the numbers are likely not large, the issue of parental notification has long been controversial.
About 35 states have laws requiring that minors either notify or get permission from their parents before getting abortions.
Abortion-rights advocates and their mostly Democratic allies on Capitol Hill have fought for nearly a decade to head off the restriction on out-of-state travel, which in most cases would also allow parents to sue anyone who helps their child get an abortion in other states without their consent.
“We’ve brought up a bill that does absolutely nothing to protect girls,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who led the opposition to the bill.
In the end, 14 Democrats joined 51 Republicans in voting for the bill. Four Republicans opposed it.
