House Falls 51 Votes Short of Upsetting Abortion Veto : No Medicaid for Victims of Rape, Incest

The House today sustained President Bush’s veto of a bill that would have allowed federally financed Medicaid abortions for victims of rape and incest.

The vote was 231 to 191 in favor of override, but that fell 51 votes short of the two-thirds margin needed.

Forty-two Republicans joined the Democratic majority to vote to override. Of California’s 45-member delegation, three Republicans joined all 27 Democrats in voting to override. Fifteen California Republicans voted to sustain.

Abortion-rights supporters, who had won a surprising victory two weeks ago for more liberal abortion provisions, failed in today’s vote to end a prohibition that has been written in federal law for nearly a decade.

Supporters of expanding federally financed abortions for poor women had acknowledged that they faced a difficult task in trying to raise a two-thirds House majority for an override. They won by a 216-206 vote two weeks ago.

An override would also have required two-thirds approval by the Senate.

The vote came after an emotion-packed debate on the House floor, in which abortion-rights forces condemned Bush’s veto as an unconscionable infringement on the rights of poor women and children victimized by rape and incest--and one that will bring political damage to Republicans.

Abortion foes cast the issue as a moral one that would invite widespread federal financing of abortions.

“This President can’t stop (Panamanian strongman Manuel Antonio) Noriega. He can’t decide what to do to roll back communism. . . . But boy, can he show the poor women of this country who’s boss,” said Rep. Les AuCoin (D-Ore.), a leader of abortion-rights lawmakers.

“If you’re a poor woman, George Bush is saying to you, ‘Just say no to rape. Just say no to incest.’ What a leader,” AuCoin said.

Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), a leader of the anti-abortion forces, said the measure was “vague, imprecise, and if enacted into law might open the floodgates to abortion funding.”

Another abortion foe, Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), said, “I have letters here from women who have been raped who say, ‘Thank God I didn’t have an abortion.’ ”

In an indication of how politically difficult the issue was regarded, the House Republican leader, Robert H. Michel of Illinois, said he would vote with Bush while suggesting that he could change positions later.

“I’m obliged obviously as the leader to support the President in this effort,” Michel said. “That isn’t to say that sometime down the road that position won’t be modified to some degree, but I think we ought to talk about it.”

One Democrat who had voted against the liberalization told the House today that he would change positions and vote to override. Rep. William H. Natcher (D-Ky.), chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that wrote the spending bill, said: “I like George Bush. . . . But Mr. Speaker, he’s wrong this time.”

Bush said he was seeking “room for flexibility” on the issue immediately after the House vote. But, under pressure from anti-abortion supporters, he hardened his stand and vetoed the bill Saturday.