High Expectations

In response to national victories by Republicans at the polls, conservative groups and lawmakers have made it clear they intend to quickly use their power to demand action from the White House on their issues -- particularly on their anti-abortion agenda. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's learned first hand of what many conservatives expect from Republicans after he made comments that Supreme Court nominees who might seek to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision would have a hard time getting confirmed by the Senate. It almost cost him his chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee and sent a clear message that those who elected him will be watching closely. But judicial nominees are just part of the gathering storm over abortion.
With an enlarged 55-45 Republican majority in the Senate, conservatives expect to make gains on legislation that has been approved by the House but has foundered in the Senate.
First on the list is the passage of the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, which was introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and co-sponsored by 26 other senators, including Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
During a trial challenging the federal ban on "partial birth abortion" Dr. Kanwaljeet S. Anand, testified that his research showed that fetuses feel pain as early as 20 weeks after fertilization. But there is broad debate in the medical community over the point at which fetuses might feel pain. Brownback's legislation would require a doctor performing an abortion 20 weeks after conception to notify the pregnant woman that her fetus could feel pain. If she goes forward with the abortion, the doctor then would be required to offer anesthesia for the fetus. It provides another step for a women to consider what she is doing.
Also on the radar is the Child Custody Protection Act. This measure would make it a criminal offense for any adult to circumvent state parental notification laws by transporting a minor across state lines for an abortion. A number of Republican lawmakers are ready to reintroduce legislation that would suspend for six months the use of RU-486, while directing the Government Accountability Office to investigate the process used by the Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug during President Bill Clinton's tenure. Along with the ban on human cloning, which would include prohibiting the therapeutic cloning of human embryos for research, there is hope some real progress will be made. While there are no guarantees that any of the abortion legislation stalled in Congress would pass with the stronger Republican majority, the voices are getting louder and even those in favor fo abortion rights admit a women's right to have an abortion is in more jeopardy now than at any other time since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.