Fair and Balanced at the New York Times
July 26, 2006
Senate Removes Abortion Option for Young Girls
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, July 25 - The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would make it a federal crime to help an under-age girl escape parental notification laws by crossing state lines to obtain an abortion.
The bill was approved on a 65-to-34 vote, with 14 Democrats joining 51 Republicans in favor.
A similar measure passed the House last year, and President Bush said he would sign the legislation if the two chambers could work out their differences and send a final bill to him.
In a statement, Mr. Bush said that “transporting minors across state lines to bypass parental consent laws regarding abortion undermines state law and jeopardizes the lives of young women.”
Critics questioned the necessity of the measure, saying it would apply to only a small number of cases and could result in criminal charges against close relatives or clergy members who interceded to help in a time of personal crisis.
Proponents of the bill, acknowledging that it was unknown how often such incidents occurred, said abortion clinics in states without such parental involvement laws had advertised that no consent was needed in an effort to appeal to those interested in avoiding such requirements.
“If they are advertising, then it obviously at least happens,” said Senator John Ensign, the Nevada Republican who wrote the measure. “If it is happening 20 times a year, it is still worth doing to protect those parental rights and to protect those children from being in these kinds of situations.”
The legislation is the latest in a push by anti-abortion forces to seek incremental changes in federal laws rather than press for a broad rollback of abortion rights.
The measure also provided Republicans another opportunity to reassure their social conservative base that its concerns were being addressed in an election year. And it gave them a chance to force Democrats to take a position on an issue some would prefer to avoid out of concern over alienating abortion-rights advocates on one hand or Democratic centrists on the other.
Twenty-nine Democrats, four Republicans and one independent voted against the bill. Polls have shown consistently that notification requirements are popular with parents. Advocates of the bill said most Americans shared the view that parents should be consulted when it comes to such a consequential matter in the life of a teenager.
“What opponents of this bill forget is that no parent wants anyone to take their children across state lines - or even across the street - without their permission,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.
Opponents said cases would inevitably arise in which a girl had been victimized by a relative, or in which parents were not available or did not have the girl’s best interest in mind. In those cases, they said, the legislation will pose a hardship or worse.
“Life is not always the way we wish it to be,” said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, who opposed the bill. “Sometimes tragedies happen, and sometimes families are not just negligent but abusive, and sometimes young girls are taken advantage of by members of their family, people in whom they should be able to trust.”
Others were pushing the measure to provide an opportunity for some lawmakers who are against abortion to make political amends after voting last week to support expanding federal research using embryonic stem cells. They said the measure could penalize close relatives trying to come to the aid of a child in trouble, who was the victim of incest or feared a physically violent response to the revelation of a pregnancy.
“I don’t think the American people support throwing Grandma in jail because she embraced her granddaughter and said, ‘Oh my God, I’m worried that your dad may hurt you if you tell the truth,’ ” said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California.
Under the legislation, known officially as the Child Custody Protection Act, those found guilty of violating it would be subject to a fine and up to a year in jail. Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, said the provisions would apply to 26 states that have enforceable laws requiring minor girls to notify or receive the consent of their parents or seek approval from a judge before seeking an abortion.
Mr. Johnson said there “is evidence of widespread circumvention of these state notification laws,” though the frequency varies around the nation depending on the proximity of states without such restrictions. He said anecdotal accounts suggested that many cases involved under-age girls and older men.
Those challenging the measure said they believed that the number of those who went out of state specifically to avoid parental notification laws was low. They said Congress should instead focus on sex education and counseling. A proposal to create new pregnancy prevention grants was defeated on a 51-to-48 vote.
“The American public wants teen pregnancy prevented, not punished,” said Nancy Keenan, president of Naral Pro-Choice America. “This bill does nothing to protect young people or promote communication between teens and their parents.”
To stem criticism that the measure protected fathers guilty of incest, Republicans joined Democrats in approving an amendment that says a parent who has committed incest and transports a minor out of state for an abortion will also face a fine and jail time.
The chief difference between the House and Senate bills is that the House measure requires an out-of-state doctor to provide 24 hours’ notice to a girl’s parents or face criminal penalties. Parents can also sue the person performing the abortion.
Despite the strong vote for the measure, the Democratic leadership objected Tuesday night to a Republican call to appoint negotiators to begin reconciling the House and Senate bills, showing that Democrats were not going to make it easy to reach a final deal.