There’s a little debate going on between Avedon Carol and Kevin Drum in Pandagon’s comments section. I can’t resist commenting on Kevin’s last, so very wrong paragraph.
Let’s examine Kevin’s first claim: that there was a PBA ban in 1997 which would have passed if it wasn’t for those dratted liberal extremists.
The Senate voted on two alternatives to the Republican-proposed PBA ban in 1997. The better-known one, proposed by Tom Daschle, would have banned all post-viability abortions except to protect the life or health of the mother. It lost 36-64. 34 Democrats vote for it, 11 voted against it. (Democrats who voted against it included not only “extremist liberals,” but also right-wing Democrats such as Senator Breaux.) And if every Democrat in the Senate had voted for it? Then it still would have lost, 47-53.
The other alternative bill, proposed by Diane Feinstein, was similar, but used broader wording to protect the health of the mother. This proposal was creamed, 28-72. If 100% of Democrats had voted for it, it would have lost 46-54.
So Kevin is mistaken to blame the loss of the 1997 bills on “extremist liberals.” No matter how many “liberals” had favored these bills, they still would have been defeated by a strong Republican majority in the Senate. (And if by some miracle they passed the Senate, they would have had even less chance of getting past the House.)
Second – and more importantly – Kevin argues that if those bills had passed, we would not have a “real ban” today. (Kevin is being a bit hyperbolic; PBAs haven’t been banned yet. But they probably will be, depending on who replaces O’Connor in the Supreme Court.) But even that seems doubtful. The pro-lifers in Congress don’t want to merely ban late-term D&X abortions; if they did, they could have passed their legislation long ago, merely by writing a provision into the legislation making it clear that their bill wasn’t intended to ban pre-viability abortions or D&E abortions.
Instead, Republicans (on the federal level) have refused again and again to put such provisions into their bills. Why? Because their goal isn’t to ban late-term abortions and one abortion procedure; their goal is to use vague, broad language to ban as many abortions as possible.
What would have happened if Daschle or Feinstein’s version had passed? Republicans would have dismissed them as worthless non-bans (that’s what they called the laws at the time), and would have put forward largely the same bill they put forward this year, saying that their bill is a “real” PBA ban. And since “partial birth abortion” isn’t a term with a firm meaning, who could say they’d be wrong?
In short, Kevin – who I respect on many issues – doesn’t know his elbow from a hole in his hat when discussing PBAs. Sorry, Kevin.
One more point – the PBA ban that passed the Senate this year passed because it was supported by most republicans and by centrist democrats. Had the “centrist” democrats who voted for the ban voted against it instead, it would have lost 48-52. So as long as Kevin is casting about for Democrats to blame the PBA ban on….
