Abortion resolution approved
WASHINGTON (AP) - A narrow
majority of the Senate voiced support
Thursday for die 1973 Supreme Court
decision to legalize abortion. The vote
was non-binding, but supporters said it
would be used in the 2000 elections
against senators who voted the other
way.
“It is now clear what the true agenda
of the anti-choice members... really is,”
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said, minutes
after an attempt to kill his non-binding
resolution failed, 51-48.
“They want to criminalize choice.”
Harkin said the resolution, an
amendment to another bill, would be a
key weapon during next year’s cam
paigns, when a third of the Senate wilh
oe up for reelection.
But the sponsor of the main bill up
for debate, which would ban certain
late-term abortions, said Democrats
were just trying to “change the subject”
from the specific type of procedure tar
geted by his bill.
“This is not about abortion, this is
about where we draw the line between
who’s protected and who’s not,” said die
sponsor,1 Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
Forty-five of the Senate’s 54
Republicans voted to kill Harkin’s non
binding amendment, which reads; “It is
the sense of the Congress that Roe v.
Wade was an appropriate decision and
secures an important constitutional
right and such a decision should not be
overturned.”
They were joined by two
66
• ... -
This is the third time the president will veto
this bill Why go through this if not for
politics?”
Barbara Boxer
Senator, D-Calif.
Democrats, Sens. John Breaux of
Louisiana and Harry Reid of Nevada.
Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire, an
independent, also voted against the res
olution. And Sen. John McCain, R
Ariz., who was campaigning for presi
dent in New Hampshire Thursday, did
not vote.
Eight Republicans joined 43
Democrats in support of the resolution.
The Republicans are Sens. John
Chaffee of Rhode Island, Ben
Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado,
Susan Collins of Maine, James Jeffords
of Vermont, Olympia Snowe of Maine,
Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Ted
Stevens of Alaska and John Warner of
Virginia.
The Senate then voted to formally
pass Harking amendment, with one less
vote against it. Sen. Judd Gregg, R
N.H., was absent.
The votes on the amendment were
the latest development in the Senate’s
debate over a bill that would ban some
late-term abortions, the third time in
i
four years the issue has come before
Congress. It is headed for the same out
come: a presidential veto.
Opponents Thursday condemned
the main legislation as unconstitutional
and designed to boost GOF election
prospects next year at the expense of
pregnant women whose lives and health
are in danger.
“This is the third time the president
will veto this bill,” Sen. Barbara Boxer,
D-Calif., said Wednesday. “Why go
through this if not for politics?”
The White House issued a state
ment Wednesday saying the bill “con
tains the same serious flaws” as the bills
Clinton vetoed in 1996 and 1997 and
the president will veto this one as well.
Santorum said unborn children
deserved another attack on a medical
practice that brutalizes “the most vul
nerable members of our society.”
“This is about infanticide,”
Santorum said from the Senate floor.
“This is a baby who is all but bom and
then killed.”
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Rockets hit; kill 118
in Chechnya’s capital
GROZNY, Russia (AP) - Pieces
of rockets slammed into a crowded
open air market and other parts of
Grozny, including a maternity hospi
tal, on Thursday, killing at least 118
people and injuring up to 400, a
Chechen official said.
Chechen officials said the rock
ets were fired by Russian forces
moving in on the capital.
The Russian Defense Ministry
in Moscow denied responsibility.
Bodies, severed body parts and
pools of blood were scattered
throughout die market after six rock
ets exploded in the stalls, which were
crowded with shoppers during the
early evening attack
At least four other rockets
slammed into other parts of the city,
Magomed Magomadov, a senior
government official, said.
He said 118 people were killed,
and between 300 people and 400
people were injured. Many of the
injured were in critical condition.
Russian forces moved in to
Chechnya in late September to
impose a security zone around the
breakaway republic and wipe out
Islamic militants. Russian forces
were devastated by street fighting
with guerrillas in the capital during
the 1994-96 war, which left
Chechnya with de facto indepen
dence.
Russian troops closed in on the
Chechen capital, with advance tanks
and armored personnel carriers
reportedly less than eight miles out
side Grozny. Chechen officials said
some Russian soldiers had been
spotted even closer.
Russia sent troops back into
Chechnya at the end of September,
following weeks of airstrikes to
eliminate Islamic militants who
invaded neighboring Dagestan.
The militants have also been
blamed for a series of September
apartment explosions in Russia that
killed some 300 people, although
Chechen warlords have denied
responsibility for the blasts.
Witnesses told The Associated
Press that they saw Russian war
planes drop bombs that exploded
around the city’s clothing market.
But the Interfax news agency
quoted Chechen armed forces oper
ations chief Mumadi Saidayev as
saying that five Russian surface-to
surface missiles hit the market area.
Saidayev claimed missiles also
hit other parts of the city, with some
falling near the residence of
Chechen President Aslan
Maskhadov, according to Interfax.
