Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 17, 1993 TAG: 9311170073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The 69-30 vote margin was bigger than expected, as supporters picked up backing from many anti-abortion lawmakers joining the call for an end to the clinic violence. A Florida abortion doctor was shot to death this year.
Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., voted for the bill, while Sen. John Warner, R-Va., opposed it.
"It's a clear message to those who have been terrorizing doctors and nurses," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the legislation's chief sponsor, said after the vote.
The House is scheduled to take up a similar bill this week; Democrats in the two chambers hope to work out a compromise to send to President Clinton before Congress breaks for the year at Thanksgiving.
The vote followed a long, emotional debate in which the Senate repeatedly turned back bids by anti-abortion lawmakers to soften the penalties and make other changes in the bill.
The bill would create new federal crimes and punishments for use of force, threats and intimidation against women seeking and doctors providing abortions. There also would be new crimes for obstruction or destruction of a family planning clinic.
Distributing leaflets, carrying placards and "sidewalk counseling" where protesters provide information still would be legal.
On abortion issues in the Senate, there are usually 40 or more "anti" votes, depending on the specific matter. But this issue was different.
"I am pro-life . . . but we cannot as a society allow acts of violence to promote any cause," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
"Violence is no response to the issue that divides us," added Sen. Dave Durenberger, R-Minn., another abortion foe backing the bill.
Critics said the bill was an affront to free-speech rights that singled out anti-abortion demonstrators for punishment.
Other people who stage blockades, such as gay-rights activists or union workers, don't have special laws aimed against them, noted Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C.
"This raises the right of abortion above the Constitution," Thurmond said.
"Talk about double standards," added Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who complained that liberal causes always are treated differently by Congress. "Is this the most deliberative body in the world, or is it merely a politically correct outfit that's more interested in the next election than the next generation?" Helms said.
Attorney General Janet Reno has asked Congress to pass the legislation, saying it would give the Justice Department needed authority to seek court injunctions to stop blockades at abortion clinics.
Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., complained that the bill would punish someone who used force the same as someone peacefully blocking an entrance - both as felonies.
Smith compared abortion protests to the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s led by Martin Luther King.
"Heroes yesterday; felons today," Smith said. "What's the difference? The difference is what you're protesting against."
Kennedy and other abortion rights advocates said it was an insult to have King's name raised during the abortion clinic debate. Repeatedly trying to obstruct access to a clinic - and therefore interfere with a woman's constitutional right to abortion - can't be trivialized, Kennedy said.
Smith tried to change the bill so people who blocked clinics in a nonviolent way would face only a misdemeanor charge and up to 60 days in jail for a repeat offense. Congress shouldn't "put nuns in jail," Smith said.
Kennedy cut him off, offering a substitute, which was passed, that kept such repeat offenses a felony, punishable by up to 18 months in jail.
The bill has stiffer penalties for use of force, punishable by up to 10 years if injury results and life in prison if a death occurs.
by CNB