The Supreme Court in 2000 struck down as unconstitutional a Nebraska ban on partial-birth abortion. Representative Steve Chabot, an Ohio Republican, crafted this year’s bill to accommodate that court decision.
The bill was approved 274-151 on Wednesday, with 65 Democrats breaking ranks to support the ban, while nine Republicans voted against it. Democrats charged the bill is just as unconstitutional as the Nebraska law.
The partial-birth abortion procedure, usually performed later in pregnancy, allows a partial delivery before the baby is killed. Chabot called it «barbaric» and «brutal.»
In the Senate, Senator Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, is working on a similar legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, was noncommittal on the bill, saying he had not read it or come to any conclusion on it.
Before the Supreme Court’s ruling, Congress twice passed legislation banning partial-birth abortion, only to have the bills vetoed by President Bill Clinton. President George W. Bush said he would sign a bill to ban the procedure.
