DATE: Wednesday, July 23, 1997              TAG: 9707230855

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   42 lines

SENATE RENEWS FEDERAL INSURANCE BAN ON ABORTION

Federal employees who want abortions would have to continue paying out of their own pockets for most of them under a measure the Senate approved Tuesday as part of a $25.2 billion spending bill.

The amendment, approved 54-45, ``would permit federal employee health plans to cover abortion only in the cases of rape, incest and threats to the life of the mother,'' said Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who sponsored it.

Allowing federal health insurance to cover other abortions would amount to a ``taxpayer subsidy of abortions for federal workers'' since the government pays about three-quarters of the premiums, he said.

The ban has been in force since 1984, except for 1994 and 1995.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the measure unfairly ``singles out female federal employees and denies them a medical benefit available to all other working women. It is wrong.''

``Time and again, members come to the floor to talk about how they support women's health,'' said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., another opponent, who said the amendment would ``take reproductive health of women away from women.''

The amendment was to the 1998 appropriations bill covering the Treasury Department, the U.S. Postal Service, the executive office of the president and some independent agencies. It is up $1.1 billion over current spending but is $456 million less than President Clinton requested.

The Senate approved the spending bill, 99-0.

The House Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, rejected an amendment to another spending bill that would have required minors to obtain parental consent before they receive services or counseling under the federal family-planning program. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

HOW THEY VOTED

North Carolina

Lauch Faircloth (R) Yes; Jesse Helms (R) Yes.

Virginia

Charles Robb (D) No; John Warner (R) Yes.

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