House Votes to Block Abortion ‘Gag Rule’

Setting up a veto confrontation with President Bush, the House voted Wednesday to stop the Administration from enforcing its so-called “gag rule” on abortion counseling at family planning clinics--but the vote fell 18 votes short of what would be needed to override a veto.

As a result, congressional foes of the regulation expect that the House would sustain Bush’s anticipated veto of the $204.9-billion appropriations bill that includes a one-year ban on implementing the controversial gag rule. The rule bars federally funded family planning clinics from advising women about abortion.

The Senate has scheduled a vote today on the bill and it was expected to pass easily and be sent to Bush.

The outcome in the House was a setback for those, including Planned Parenthood and major medical organizations, who have charged that the gag rule unfairly singles out poor women who cannot afford to go to private physicians. They had hoped that widespread opposition to the regulation would translate into enough votes to override a Bush veto for the first time. A recent Los Angeles Times poll, for example, indicated that 66% of the public opposed the rule while 30% supported it.

“I think it’s a very sad day,” said Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), a leading opponent of the regulation banning abortion advice. Proponents, however, said that new instructions by the President would alleviate the restrictions on doctors advising patients.

“Family planning is not abortion,” said Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), a supporter of the rule. With heavy lobbying on both sides of the issue, the House divided, 272 to 156, in favor of the measure that provides funds for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

A total of 220 Democrats, 51 Republicans and one independent voted in favor of the legislation, while 113 Republicans and 43 Democrats opposed it.

If all 434 current members of the House were voting, it would take 290 votes to get the two-thirds majority required to override a veto.

In what appeared to be an attempt to sway votes, Bush issued a memo late Tuesday directing Health Secretary Louis W. Sullivan to interpret the regulation in a way that would allow pregnant women to receive complete medical information about their conditions from doctors.

Opponents of the rule, however, described the memo as a sham because, they said, it would not allow abortion counseling by nurses, social workers or other health care personnel at family planning clinics that get federal funds.

Previous efforts to work out a compromise on the hotly fought issue failed when White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu reportedly rejected an agreement worked out by opponents of the rule and members of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

Earlier, the House passed a similar bill, including the prohibition against enforcement of the rule, by a vote of 353 to 74, and the Senate also approved the one-year ban in its version of the legislation by a 78-22 margin.

Many House lawmakers, however, switched their votes Wednesday after Senate and House conferees had reconciled the two versions of the legislation and the National Right to Life Committee, a leading anti-abortion group, made it a key vote in their rating of members of Congress.

The ban on abortion counseling was first adopted by the Ronald Reagan Administration in 1988, extended by Bush and upheld by the Supreme Court in a controversial decision last spring. The President and his supporters on the issue say that the regulation helps to prevent abortions and government payments for abortion advocates at the clinics.

Vote on Abortion Counseling Ban (Southland Edition, A18)

Here is how members of the California delegation voted on a spending bill that includes a provision to block President Bush from enforcing a ban on abortion counseling at federally funded family planning clinics:

Democrats for--Anderson, Beilenson, Berman, Boxer, Brown, Condit, Dellums, Dixon, Dooley, Dymally, Edwards, Fazio, Lantos, Lehman, Levine, Matsui, Miller, Mineta, Panetta, Pelosi, Roybal, Stark, Torres, Waters, Waxman.

Republicans for--Campbell, Thomas.

Democrats against--None.

Republicans against--Cox, Cunningham, Dannemeyer, Doolittle, Dornan, Dreier, Gallegly, Herger, Hunter, Lagomarsino, Lewis, Lowery, McCandless, Moorhead, Packard, Riggs, Rohrabacher.

Democrats not voting--Martinez.