Republicans at work ( destroying Society)
Abortion rights supporters lose a key vote in Senate
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | March 9, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Senate yesterday defeated an effort to stop those who commit abortion-clinic violence from ducking legal judgments through bankruptcy, a setback for abortion rights groups and a display of the increased might of the Republican majority after last year's elections.
A similar measure was part of a bankruptcy bill the Senate passed in 2003, and opposition from House Republican leaders was the only thing that kept it from becoming law then. But Republicans picked up four Senate seats in November and the amendment failed in the Senate, 53-46, in a vote that advocates on both sides consider a harbinger for the prospects of other abortion-related matters in Congress.
''The culture of the Senate probably has changed somewhat to the right on that issue," said Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who used the abortion issue to help defeat Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, last year. ''Clearly, with the freshman class that came in this year, you gained a number of prolife votes."
The stronger GOP majority could boost several initiatives designed to make abortion rarer.