Senate approves parental consent

Republicans last night secured a long-sought pro-life victory as the Senate approved a bill that would protect parents’ right to be involved in their pregnant teen’s abortion decision.

“I believe this is a significant pro-parent, pro-child, pro-life piece of legislation,” Sen. Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican, said of the bill, which would make it a crime to avoid a state’s parental-notification or -consent law by taking a minor to another state to obtain an abortion.

The measure passed, 65-34. Fourteen Democrats voted in favor of the measure, while four Republicans voted against it.

The House passed a similar measure last year, so the legislation now goes to final House-Senate negotiations.

The bill still faces obstacles before reaching President Bush’s desk. In addition to differences with the House version, Senate Democrats last night objected when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, moved to send the bill into the final negotiations stage.

The last time the Senate considered the issue, in 1998, supporters were unable to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, failing 54-45.

This year however, the bill had enough votes, so when Mr. Frist pushed the measure forward, Democrats allowed it to come to the floor, though many of them complained that the vote timing was purely political and that the Senate should focus on more important matters.

“I don’t think it’s an issue in New York,” Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, said of the bill.

“This is Frist’s ‘to-do’ list for the campaign,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, referring to Mr. Frist’s possible presidential aspirations.

The bill would punish anyone who knowingly skirts a state’s parental-consent or -notification law by taking a pregnant minor to a state with more lenient laws to obtain an abortion. Violators would face fines and up to one year in prison. The only exception to the bill’s penalties would be if the abortion was needed to save the girl’s life.

Proponents said the law would not undermine state laws or force parental involvement on the handful of states that don’t require it.

“This bill goes a long way in strengthening the effectiveness of state laws designed to protect parents and their young daughters from the health and safety risks associated with secret abortions,” said Sen. John Ensign, Nevada Republican and bill sponsor.

But one leading Democrat suggested that the measure could result in the arrest of a grandmother who tries to help a troubled teenager.

“Congress ought to have higher priorities than turning grandparents into criminals,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat.

Mr. Bush strongly supports the measure because he said transporting minors to other states to avoid parental-involvement laws “undermines state law and jeopardizes the lives of young women.”

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