BEYOND PARTIAL-BIRTH
BARNES, FRED
BEYOND PARTIAL-BIRTH by Fred Barnes Let's assume the next Congress overrides President Clinton's veto of a ban on partial-birth -/abortion. This isn't far-fetched. Even in the unlikely event...
...Santorum and Canady are sympathetic, but they're hardly committed to going ahead with such a bill...
...In other words, if the baby could live outside the womb, for even a short period, then it would be illegal to kill it...
...Let's take people where they are [on abortion] and not push beyond where they are...
...You'd probably get down to the fourth month before you had a close vote [in Congress...
...For the first time in 25 years, the public has moved on abortion," says Santorum...
...Canady, chairman of the House Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee, says he's "not interested in signaling to the other side" what the anti-abortion forces will seek next...
...He feels pressure from the partial-birth debate and the polls...
...There's a larger issue here: whether we're a self-governing people or not...
...Still, Clinton's willingness to pay lip service to pro-life goals is striking...
...Make him veto...
...In any case, Canady favors a bill with a broad impact "consistent with the overall goal of moving the public debate forward...
...And then there's the Child Custody Protection Act, which recently was approved 17-10 by the House Judiciary Committee...
...Another vote for the partial-birth ban will be added in Arkansas no matter who wins, Democrat Blanche Lambert Lincoln or Republican Fay Booz-man (Democrat Dale Bumpers is retiring...
...Legislation should not be tailored to accommodate the courts either, he argues...
...There isn't much opposition to this across the country," notes Jeffrey Bell, a GOP strategist who advises Bauer...
...It's already had an enormous impact on the abortion debate, though...
...That's why he'll confer with Daschle about a post-viability ban...
...Nothing will happen without their support, or at least their acquiescence...
...And in the Senate, the prospects are very good for electing enough new senators to reach the magic number of 67...
...Next year, he's sure to feel even more...
...Other Senate breakthroughs are also possible...
...Of the four, Bauer is the most confrontational...
...Nearly 80 percent now back parental consent and waiting periods...
...This was critical, Santorum told me, because the pro-life activity in Congress is aimed partly at educating the public about the gruesome nature of aborting a child...
...so the bottom line is: There's a 50-50 chance or better that partial-birth abortion will be banned by early next year...
...In the end, though, Bauer favors a campaign to ban second and third-trimester abortions...
...Somehow we've got to catch the media's attention [again]," he says...
...San-torum remains intrigued by a suggestion last year of Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, who said he might back a ban on all "post-viability" abortions...
...You have to keep forcing votes and putting bills on the president's desk," Bauer says...
...Instead, there has to be a willingness "to confront the judicial branch...
...However, other pro-life leaders— Canady and NRL officials, for example—suspect a Daschle bill would include gaping loopholes, scuttling any deal with Santorum and other pro-lifers...
...More important, the partial-birth debate prompted a shift in public opinion...
...Naturally, the changes would weaken the measure...
...He's eager to seek a ban on second and third-trimester abortions, which would directly challenge the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion...
...Still, Santorum and Bauer have become close allies and are likely to act together...
...Of course, GOP senator Al D'Amato must win reelection in New York, but that looks more likely every day...
...WhAI'S NEXIFOR PRO-LIFERS...
...Even in the unlikely event Republicans lose a handful of seats in the House, that chamber will probably retain a solid two-thirds majority for overriding Clinton...
...in the ninth month of pregnancy, then the eighth, and so on...
...If Daschle is willing to look at a post-viability ban, let's look at it," Santorum says...
...What's next, now that the pro-life movement has momentum, plus better poll numbers...
...one more will be added with the all-but-certain election of Republican governor George Voinovich to succeed Democrat John Glenn in Ohio...
...In Illinois, Republican pro-lifer Peter Fitzgerald has a legitimate shot at ousting Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun to add the 67th vote...
...Today, there are 64 Senate votes to override...
...With the abortion debate working to their advantage, what should pro-lifers seek in Congress...
...He assumes such a ban would cover all abortions after 20 weeks' gestation...
...Even before the election, another effort is set to override Clinton's veto of the partial-birth ban, though Santorum doesn't expect the three votes needed in the Senate to materialize...
...This would make it a federal crime to transport a minor across state lines to get an abortion, skirting a requirement for consent from one or both parents or a judge...
...You have to move the abortion debate on the basis of common ground," he insists...
...The exact form of the legislation will probably be decided by the four most influential anti-abortion leaders in Washington: GOP senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Republican representative Charles Canady of Florida, Douglas Johnson of National Right to Life (NRL), and Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council...
...A New York Times/CBS News poll found last January that national support for abortion in most cases has dropped from 40 percent in 1989 to 32 percent...
...Most people would find that common ground...
...Once Ron Fitzsimmons, a lobbyist for the abortion industry, admitted last year he and others had lied about the number of partial-birth abortions taking place in the country, the media began covering the story...
...He likes the approach of seeking a ban on all abortions There's a 50-50 1 chance or bEtiER that PARIIAL-blRIh ABORIIOnS WILL bE bANnED BY EARLY next YEAR...
...On partial-birth, he says, pro-lifers have benefited from catching the proabortion lobby by surprise...
...Santorum, to whom other senators defer on the abortion issue, is more cautious, at least in his public statements...
...The White House says Clinton will sign the bill if it's changed a bit...
...Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard...
...Johnson, the architect of the partial-birth ban, is wary of even talking about strategic decisions now...
...And the answer is legislation that's more sweeping than the partial-birth ban and designed to prohibit thousands more abortions each year...
...Bauer, who's allied with former Pennsylvania governor Robert Casey, a Democrat, is ready to provoke a major fight with Clinton and the courts...
...Johnson, for his part, believes the whole matter is "not ripe yet," since the partial-birth battle hasn't been won...
...Before turning to a broader ban, pro-lifers must address two issues...
...This is suddenly a matter of considerable discussion...
...Two-thirds think abortions in the second trimester should be forbidden, and 79 percent favor a ban on third-trimester abortions...
Vol. 3 • July 1998 • No. 42
