ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 8, 1995 TAG: 9512080095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
In a victory for anti-abortion views, the Senate voted Thursday to ban certain late-term abortions unless the mother would otherwise die.
But before the so-called ``partial birth'' abortion ban, which passed 54-44, can be sent to President Clinton, it must go back to the House, which passed it without an exception for saving a woman's life.
Even if that difference and other lesser Senate changes are accepted, the president has indicated he will veto the bill because it doesn't take a woman's health into account.
Abortion-rights senators lost two attempts to significantly modify the bill.
Senators voted 51-47 against an amendment by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that would have permitted these rare, late-term abortions if a woman's fertility or other physical condition was endangered by the pregnancy.
An amendment sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., that would have ditched the bill in favor of a resolution saying the Senate had no right to make such medical decisions was voted down 53-44.
At the urging of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., chief sponsor of the bill, senators agreed 98-0 to allow the abortions ``to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness or injury provided that no other medical procedure would suffice for that purpose.''
Congress' action on this bill marks the first time it has moved to prohibit a specific abortion procedure since Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion in 1973.
``I believe it is tragic that we are about to criminalize a procedure doctors say is necessary to protect the life of a woman,'' Boxer said before the final vote began.
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