House Passes Antiabortion Bill
WASHINGTON — In the House, antiabortion forces again pushed through a ban on a specific abortion procedure despite past legislative failures, court challenges and an uncertain future in the Senate.
The bill to ban what opponents call “partial-birth” abortion, taken up on an almost annual basis since Republicans gained control of the House in 1995, passed 274 to 151.
President Clinton vetoed the legislation twice, in 1996 and 1997, but this time supporters of the ban have the Oval Office on their side. The White House said in a statement that it strongly supports the bill, saying it is “morally imperative and constitutionally permissible to prohibit this very abhorrent form of abortion.”
But first, it must be considered by the Democratic-controlled Senate, and Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said he didn’t know if that would happen before this session of Congress ends.
“We have so many things on the plate,” Daschle said, “that we’re going to have to make some decisions about what merits the highest priority.”
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