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HEADLINE: Abortion foes expect kinder Congress;
Demos' Senate loss changes landscape

BYLINE: By Robert Cohen; Newhouse News Service

BODY:
WASHINGTON -- Energized by the midterm elections, the anti-abortion movement is counting on Republican control of the new Congress and backing from President Bush to enact key elements of its long-stalled agenda.

High on the list are bills to ban a controversial late-term abortion procedure, make it a federal crime to circumvent state parental-consent laws, punish criminals who harm a fetus, and give health providers and insurers the legal right to refuse to perform, pay for or counsel patients for abortion services.

"I do think the election provided important momentum for the pro-life agenda," said Kenneth Connor, president of the Family Research Council, an advocacy group. "There is a lot of optimism." Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion Rights Action League, said the Democrats' loss of Senate control in the November election "significantly changed the political landscape" and "removed the only national government institution that provided a fire wall" protecting abortion rights.

"We have never had an environment as hostile as this since Roe vs. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court 30 years ago," Michelman said. "This could really result in more losses than we have experienced in the past."

In addition to smoothing the path for restrictive legislation, Michelman said, the power shift will make it easier for Bush to win confirmation of federal judges who oppose abortion. Jim Backlin, legislative director for the Christian Coalition, said the appointment of anti-abortion and conservative judges will be among his group's top priorities.

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said that for the past two years, Senate Democrats blocked anti-abortion bills approved by the House. With Republicans set to take control of the Senate Jan. 7, he said, that should change.

"We would expect to see a number of these bills considered," Johnson said. "It won't happen all at once, but bills will be taken up at the appropriate times during the course of the Congress. . . . This now opens the door."

The anti-abortion groups also believe Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the incoming Senate majority leader, will be an ally. Some conservatives worry, though, that he may not be as activist as they hope.

Frist has regularly received a 100 percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee. In a 1998 letter to constituents, he wrote: "As a physician, my professional ethics are grounded in preserving life, and I am opposed to abortion. I would make exceptions for instances of rape, incest, or to preserve the life of the mother."

Michelman said abortion rights advocates will have "little recourse but to ask our friends in the Senate to filibuster against some of the more egregious assaults on reproductive rights." But, she said, abortion opponents "have the power, and they will exercise that power to take us as close as they legally can to eliminating the right to choose."

Bush is firmly on record opposing abortion, a marked contrast to President Clinton, who protected abortion rights for eight years.

Bush supported four anti-abortion bills that passed the House and died in the Senate in the last Congress, though he has not made abortion a top legislative priority.

On a separate front, the administration blocked $34 million in financing for the United Nations Population Fund earlier this month, arguing the organization aids Chinese government agencies that force women to have abortions.

The administration also tried, but failed, this month to insert anti-abortion language into an international family planning agreement. The language asserted that the "United States supports innocent life from conception to natural death" and "does not support, promote or endorse abortions, abortion-related services" or substances that induce an abortion.

Last summer, the administration adopted a policy allowing states to make an "unborn child" eligible for medical coverage under the Children's Health Insurance Program.

LOAD-DATE: December 31, 2002