Senate OKs limits on abortion

? A bill that would make it a crime to take a pregnant girl across state lines for an abortion without her parents’ knowledge passed the Senate on Tuesday, but vast differences with the House version stood between the measure and President Bush’s desk.

The 65-34 vote gave the Senate’s approval to the bill, which would make taking a pregnant girl to another state for the purposes of evading parental notification laws punishable by fines and up to a year in jail.

The girl and her parents would be exempt from prosecution, and the bill contains an exception for abortions performed in this manner when the pregnancy posed a threat to the mother’s life.

Struggling to defend their majority this election year, Republican sponsors said the bill supports what a majority of the public believes: that a parent’s right to know takes precedence over a young woman’s right to have an abortion.

“No parent wants anyone to take their children across state lines or even across the street without their permission,” said Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Bush applauded the Senate action and urged the House and Senate to resolve their differences and send him a bill he said he would sign. Fourteen Democrats and 51 Republicans voted for the bill. Four Republicans voted against it.

How they voted

On a 65-34 vote, the U.S. Senate approved a bill to make it a crime to take a girl across state lines for an abortion without her parents’ knowledge. Kansas Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts voted in favor of the measure.

Bowing to public support for parental notification and the GOP’s 55-44-1 majority, Democrats spent the day trying to carve out an exemption for confidants to whom a girl with abusive parents might turn for help. It was rejected in floor negotiations.

Democrats complained that the measure was the latest in a series of bills designed chiefly to energize conservative voters.

“Congress ought to have higher priorities than turning grandparents into criminals,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.