
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 6, 1993                   TAG: 9305060216
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SENATE PANEL VOTES TO END `GAG RULE'

A Senate panel approved a bill Wednesday that would write into law the lifting of a ban on abortion counseling at federally funded family planning clinics.

The measure, which already has passed the House, was approved 15-2 by the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. Republican Sens. Dan Coats of Indiana and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, both abortion opponents, voted against it.

Coats complained that the bill allows health care personnel to talk to patients about "pregnancy management" when he thought "pregnancy termination" would be more accurate.

"I think it's a little bit disingenuous," Coats said.

The overall measure would reauthorize spending for family planning clinics. It writes into law the action President Clinton took early in his term when he lifted the Bush administration's ban on certain counseling at family planning clinics that receive federal funds.

by CNB