"Facts of Life" Email: June 6, 2003

Facts of Life—June 6, 2003

The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 760) passed the U.S. House of Representatives on June 4, 282-139, with all California Republicans supporting it and all Democrats opposing it except for the 3 Democrats who did not vote.  Two Republicans, Doug Ose (Dist. 3, Sacramento/Woodland) and Bill Thomas (Dist. 22, Bakersfield), voted for the sham substitute offered by Representatives Jim Greenwood (R-PA) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD).  Nine California Democrats (Honda, Lee, Matsui, Pelosi, Solis, Stark, Thompson, Waters and Woolsey) and the rest of the Republicans opposed the Greenwood/Hoyer substitute.  Even though the sponsors conceded their proposal would allow abortions for “mental health,” even in the last three months of pregnancy, they called it a ban on late-term abortions.  (<<http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=240>>)  All California Democrats opposed the true ban on partial-birth abortions, H.R. 760, while all Republicans voted for it.  (<<http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=242>>)  The Senate passed a ban on partial-birth abortions (S.3) on March 13 by a vote of 64-33, but it also included a resolution endorsing Roe v. Wade.  The House and Senate proposals will now go to a conference committee where the differences will be worked out (and the Roe v. Wade resolution will likely be removed).  The conference report will then go back to both houses for a vote before the bill goes to the President, who is eager to sign it.  Ultimately the partial-birth abortion ban will end up in the U. S. Supreme Court. 

For a study in contrasts, the California Assembly on June 3rd rejected five pro-life budget amendments, which would virtually have ended, or at least limited the abortion-on-demand policies in our tax-funded Medi-Cal program.  Lancaster Assemblywoman Sharon Runner (R-AD36) and her staff spearheaded the annual attempt to spare the taxpayer’s complicity in the more than 100,000 abortions paid for each year.  Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian (R-AD26) carried the primary amendment which would have limited tax-paid abortions to those necessary to save the life of the mother or in cases in which the baby was conceived by rape or incest (tabled 48-24).  Assemblywoman Runner’s amendment would have required parental consent prior to a Medi-Cal funded abortion (tabled 48-31).  Assemblyman Ken Maddox’s (R-AD68) amendment would have prohibited tax payment for abortions after 20 weeks gestation (tabled 49-28).  Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy (R-AD59) attempted to prohibit the state from using taxpayer funds for the cloning of human embryos or for the sale or purchase of embryos or fetuses (tabled 48-25).  Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia (R-AD80) offered an amendment that would have required Medi-Cal patients to sign a form assuring that they are not having the abortion under any coercion or duress (tabled 49-25).  The votes noted here are the unofficial tallies, which generally reflected that Republicans supported the amendments and Democrats opposed them, with some exceptions.  The official votes will be reported on our website when they are available. 

Check out the section on Legislation at www.californiaprolife.org for information about the progress of other life and death related bills in the California Legislature.   

California ProLife Council (CPLC) (www.californiaprolife.org )is the largest statewide organization in California solely dedicated to pro-life issues. CPLC is a non-sectarian, non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization of pro-life groups and individuals in California dedicated to protecting and fostering the most basic value of our society-respect for LIFE itself.  We seek to educate our community in regard to abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide, to identify and organize the pro-life population of the state into an effective team, and to restore respect for human life to public policy.  California ProLife Council is the California affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, Inc. (www.nrlc.org)