c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ The Senate, as expected, Tuesday (May 20) passed a bill banning a controversial late-term abortion procedure, but fell shy of achieving a margin of victory large enough to override an expected presidential veto.

The Senate vote on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, which has consumed both sides in the bitter abortion debate for the better part of two years, was 64-36, three shy of the two-thirds needed to override a presidential veto. The bill, which on March 20 had overwhelmingly passed the House, now goes to President Clinton.

The bitterness of the debate was dramatically underscored after the final vote in a short speech by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., a Roman Catholic.

Daschle, who supports legal abortion but who voted for the ban, engaged in a rare public rebuke of his church’s hierarchy, especially in South Dakota.

Noting that his efforts to find common ground were labeled by abortion opponents as”shams”and”deceptive,”Daschle said:”Perhaps because my expectations were much too high, my greatest disappointment is reserved for some officials in the Catholic Church, especially in my state, for whom I had great respect and from whom I was given initial encouragement for my efforts.”Their harsh rhetoric and vitriolic characterization, usually more identified with the radical right than with thoughtful religious leadership, proved to be a consequential impediment to the decision I have made today,”he said.”It was most instructive.” The bill, sponsored by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., won the backing of the American Medical Association (AMA) on Monday (May 19), following language changes designed to protect doctors and clarifying the”life exception”for women whose lives are endangered by pregnancy.”Although our general policy is to oppose legislation criminalizing medical practice or procedure, the AMA has supported such legislation where the procedure was narrowly defined and not medically indicated,”AMA’s executive vice president P. John Seward wrote in the endorsement letter.

Last week, the AMA had declined to take a stand on the bill.

Several religious groups applauded the Senate’s vote, including the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Christian Coalition and religious broadcaster James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.”If the president vetoes this bill he will face the mother of all override battles going into the 1998 elections,”warned the Christian Coalition’s Ralph Reed in a statement.

Dobson agreed, saying,”The president should follow the recommendation of the American Medical Association and immediately sign this bill into law to put an end to such brutal child abuse.” Supporters of legal abortion were not surprised by the vote but expressed disappointment at the outcome.”I am appalled that anyone would use tragedies in the lives of women as a political gain,”said the Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, an umbrella organization of Protestant, Jewish and Roman Catholic groups that support legal abortion.

She said anti-abortion groups”have misled their own people”about the nature and necessity of the late-term abortion procedure.

In addition to the religious groups, secular groups supporting abortion rights, including the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), criticized the Senate action.

Kate Michelman, NARAL president, called on Clinton and members of Congress who support abortion rights to”protect women’s health from this needless infringement by politicians.” The bill outlaws a controversial late-term abortion procedure called”intact dilation and extraction,”where a fetus is delivered partway down the birth canal before it is aborted.

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A compromise by Daschle, which the Senate rejected last week, would have banned all late-term abortions except those necessary to save the life of the woman and where there was potential”grievous harm”to her physical health.

Bishop Robert Carlson of the diocese of Sioux Falls, called Daschle’s compromise `deceptive,”and Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, said Daschle’s proposal would allow for”the destruction of unborn children up to the moment of birth, simply on the basis that someone wants a dead child instead of a live one. … What is before us is unworthy of human beings. What is before us is infanticide.” In his statement, Daschle said he voted for the ban partly to expedite the legal process and move the legislation to the Supreme Court, where he said it is likely to be ruled unconstitutional.

MJP END LEBOWITZ