Abortion Foes Foresee Uphill Campaign

National Right to Life Committee officials say they face an uphill battle in their campaign to mobilize voters to try to persuade Congress to overturn President Clinton’s recent veto of a bill banning a controversial late-term abortion procedure.

According to a poll announced at the group’s annual meeting this week, more than 70% of U.S. residents surveyed did not know Congress had passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act or that Clinton had vetoed it.

The issue has been a galvanizing point for conservative leaders seeking Clinton’s ouster in this year’s presidential race.

Speaking at the Right to Life convention’s opening session Thursday, Douglas Johnson, federal legislative director for the group, said 65% of those polled knew nothing of the abortion procedure, which is called “partial-birth abortion” by its critics because the fetus is partially delivered before the abortion is completed.

The poll, taken in late May by Wirthlin Worldwide, a marketing research firm in McLean, Va., included a question that explained the controversial procedure and asked respondents if they believed Congress should ban it except in cases to save a woman’s life.

Eighty-four percent said yes, 11% said no and 5% said they did not know or refused to answer. The poll of 1,002 adults had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

“If that public sentiment can be galvanized . . . and focused on Congress, then a law [banning the late-term abortion procedure] becomes possible,” Johnson told about 400 people gathered for a session called “The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban--Challenging the Conscience of a Nation.”

Eleven past presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention and the nation’s Roman Catholic cardinals sent letters to Clinton condemning his action, and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops is co-sponsoring a parish postcard campaign urging Congress to override Clinton’s veto.

The White House has said Clinton vetoed the bill because it did not “provide an exception for consideration of the health of the mother. The president has consistently opposed late-term abortions except to protect the life and health of the mother.”