Any girl who is leaving the state to have this procedure has a DAMN GOOD reason.
This is an election year wedge issue bullshit bill for the red state fundie base and 14 Dems play right into their hands- giving them victories that will embolden them to keep pushing for more restrictions on women's rights.
Very, very pissed off this morning. Thank God for Dick Durbin.
WASHINGTON - An abortion bill aimed at stopping people from helping pregnant girls skirt parental-notification laws has gained passage in both houses of Congress, but sticky political and policy disputes stand between it and President Bush's desk.
Just moments after the Senate passed its version 65-34 late Tuesday — with the support of 14 Democrats — Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., used a procedural motion to halt its progress.
Moreover, there are significant differences between the Senate bill and the House version passed last year.
For his part, Bush urged Congress to resolve the differences and send him the bill.
"Transporting minors across state lines to bypass parental consent laws regarding abortion undermines state law and jeopardizes the lives of young women," he said in a statement.
Both bills are designed to make it a crime to help a pregnant girl cross state lines to get an abortion in an effort to evade parental notification and consent laws in her home state.
Fourteen Democrats and 51 Republicans voted for the bill. Four Republicans voted against it: Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was absent.
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.
Six states — Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — as well as the District of Columbia have no parental consent or notification laws. Legal challenges have blocked such laws in nine states: Alaska, California, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New Mexico.
No one knows how many girls get abortions in this way, or who helps them. But Democrats say the policy would be dangerous to pregnant teens who have abusive or neglectful parents by discouraging other people from helping them.
"We're going to sacrifice a lot of girls' lives," said Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
I don't know about "a lot" of lives, Hillary, but one is too many, don't ya think?
Here are the 14-
Bayh (D-IN)
Byrd (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reid (D-NV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Now, tell me again how it's OK to vote for anti-choice Dems because they will "stick with the Party" and support women over their personal feelings, because I really have my doubts at this point.