Senate Defeats Bankruptcy Bill Amendment That Would Have Prevented Antiabortion Advocates, Others From Avoiding Protest-Related Fi

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 09 Mar 2005 - 20:00 PDT

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USA - The Senate on Tuesday voted 53-46 to defeat an amendment to a bankruptcy reform bill... (SB 256) that would have prevented protesters at abortion clinics and elsewhere from filing for bankruptcy to avoid paying fines if convicted of criminal activity, the Washington Times reports (Hurt, Washington Times, 3/9). Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who proposed the amendment, introduced similar amendments to the Senate version of bankruptcy reform legislation in 2002 and 2003. However, the House-passed version of the bill lacked the provision both years. Although House and Senate negotiators in 2002 agreed on compromise language that narrowed the abortion-related provision to pertain only to cases of intentional violence and apply more generally beyond abortion clinics, the House removed the abortion-related language before passing the measure, and then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) refused to bring it to a vote in the Senate, effectively blocking the measure. Although the amendment in past years specifically named abortion-rights opponents, the wording of this year's amendment omitted any direct reference to abortion and instead referred to anyone who "threatens or uses violence to get their way" (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 3/8).

'Dramatic Turnaround' From 2000 Vote
This year's 53-46 vote against the amendment represents a "dramatic turnaround" from 2000's 80-17 vote in support of the amendment, and the changes are due in large part to significant Republican gains in the Senate and the Republican majority's "eagerness" to pass bankruptcy reform legislation, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports (Kuhnhenn/Pugh, Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/9). Some supporters of bankruptcy reform called Schumer's measure a "poison pill" intended to defeat the entire bankruptcy bill by invoking the "divisive" issue of abortion, according to the Washington Post (Day, Washington Post, 3/9). In addition, some labor unions believed Schumer's amendment would have decreased turnout at some labor, civil rights and environmental demonstrations in favor of overall bankrupty reform and worked to help defeat the amendment, according to the Wall Street Journal (Mullins, Wall Street Journal, 3/9). Now that the abortion-related amendment has been defeated, passage of the overall legislation is an "inevitable formality," and President Bush has pledged that he will sign it, the New York Times reports (Labaton, New York Times, 3/9).

Reaction
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who in previous sessions voted for Schumer's amendment but voted against it on Tuesday, said, "Injecting the polarizing politics of abortion into the bankruptcy bill, most would have to agree, does not appear to be calculated to help the passage of the bill," adding, "To my knowledge, there is a complete absence of cases demonstrating the problem this amendment seeks to address" (Peterson, CongressDaily, 3/8). Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said, "The Senate this year has finally recognized that there is absolutely no justification for singling out pro-lifers from bankruptcy protections," adding, "The Senate sent a powerful message to the American public when it recognized that this issue has no place in the debate over bankruptcy reform" (FRC release, 3/8). Karen Pearl, interim president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, "Perpetrators of clinic violence must be held accountable for their illegal and dangerous actions," adding, "In failing to pass this important amendment to the bankruptcy bill, the Senate is clearly telling America that these violent convicted felons are free to subvert the legal system and manipulate our laws to avoid paying their debt to society and the victims of their crimes" (PPFA release, 3/8).

Ramifications for Abortion Rights
Some abortion-rights advocates said that the vote on Schumer's amendment likely would be the "first test" to determine the level of abortion-rights support in the Senate since the November 2004 elections, the Los Angeles Times reports (Curtius, Los Angeles Times, 3/9). Schumer said that the fact that four Republicans "defied" their party's leaders to support the amendment shows that some Republicans are "uncomfortable" with their party's opposition to abortion rights, the Boston Globe reports. "We all know, those of us who are pro-choice, that we have a rougher row to hoe in this new Congress," Schumer said, adding, "But I don't think that this (defeat) was definitive in any way" (Klein, Boston Globe, 3/9). However, Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) said that the amendment's defeat shows a "good trend in this Congress as far as pro-life votes," adding, "I think this new Congress is going to be even more pro-life" (Schuler, Congressional Quarterly, 3/8). Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said that there is a 51-49 majority opposing abortion rights in the current Senate, according to the AP/Newark Star-Ledger. "Both houses have an anti-choice majority," Saporta said, adding, "So it's very difficult for us to be able to prevail on issues pertaining to upholding a woman's right to choose" (Espo, AP/Newark Star-Ledger, 3/9).

NPR's "All Things Considered" on Tuesday reported on the Senate's rejection of the Schumer amendment. The segment includes comments from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sens. Schumer, Hatch, Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) (Welna, "All Things Considered," NPR, 3/8). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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