Pro-lifers set sights on new Congress

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The pro-life movement, which helped pass several initiatives in the 108th Congress, thinks Republican gains in the Senate will aid the chances for bills to enforce state parental notification laws and to alert pregnant women about fetal pain.

"There is enough of a shift that we think bills such as these two ... have a real chance," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

The Senate has been the biggest blockade to pro-life bills. Republican pickups in this year's election mean the chamber will have about three additional pro-life votes come January, Mr. Johnson said.

He said he hopes the defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, might make some pro-choice senators "who marched in lock step with the abortion lobby ... less inclined to get out on thin ice" in blocking abortion restrictions.

Both sides of the abortion debate are anticipating a Supreme Court vacancy, particularly after deteriorating health has forced Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to miss several sessions.

Mr. Johnson said a battle over any Supreme Court nominee would take top priority for his group.

Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, also said a Supreme Court vacancy would be a "huge priority" for her side. She promised a "tremendous fight" over any nominee who would "turn back the clock" on abortion or other rights.

Until that fight erupts, however, the pro-life lobby will focus on other legislation.

One priority, introduced as a bill for the first time in May, would require doctors to tell women seeking abortions after 20 weeks about the capacity of the fetus to feel pain and offer the option of pain-reducing drugs.

The fetal-pain issue garnered interest during a federal court case in New York, in which the government was defending the federal ban on late-term partial-birth abortions. The judge in that case said the defense presented "credible evidence" that a fetus feels pain.