Anti-Abortion Democrats Push Competing Bills
By Jennifer Yachnin
Roll Call
September 20, 2006

The majority of the House Democratic Caucus may support abortion rights, but you wouldn’t know it in recent days, as the party’s small anti-abortion wing has produced two high-profile bills designed to reduce the number of elective abortions.

Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.) is slated to unveil his Pregnant Women Support Act today, on the heels of a similar proposal, the Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act, introduced by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) last week.

Although the two bills share an overall goal — reducing the number of elective abortions by establishing support programs for pregnant women, such as child care and health care —pro-life Democrats have split over whether the legislation should also support prevention methods, primarily the promotion of contraceptives.

Reservations over the issue prompted Democrats For Life of America, an anti-abortion-rights group that also opposes euthanasia and capital punishment, to part ways with Ryan before the Ohio lawmaker introduced his bill last week.

“We decided to go different directions because as an organization we wanted to find something that would unite all Democrats,” said Kristen Day, DFLA executive director. Both bills are based, in part, on the DFLA’s 95/10 Initiative, which aims to reduce the abortion rate by 95 percent over a 10-year period.

“The common ground that we were able to find — Republican, Democrat, pro-life, pro-choice — nobody can disagree that we need to do more to help pregnant women,” she added.

While the organization is not opposed to the use of contraception, Day explained, she said the group became concerned that the topic could distract from the overall bill.

DFLA subsequently endorsed the Davis measure, which does not include those provisions.

“I think this is more of a common-ground approach. ... This is a good starting place, a good focus,” Day said. “When you start talking about contraception, people are very committed to one side or the other.”

A Democratic aide familiar with the Davis bill echoed that sentiment, describing the bill as an alternative measure for lawmakers ill at ease in promoting contraceptive programs.

“That’s a moral area that some Democrats are not comfortable with, so we wanted there to be an additional bill that pro-life Democrats could get behind,” the aide said.

Despite the divergent proposals, however, the disagreement does not appear to have driven any permanent wedge into the Democratic faction.

“We’re obviously partial to our bill,” acknowledged Ryan Keating, a spokesman for Ryan. “We see their bill as a step in the right direction.”

While it remains to be seen whether the anti-abortion-rights Democrats could push both bills in tandem, seeking concurrent hearings, Keating said Ryan intends to support both measures.

“We see the bills as different means to achieve the same end, which is reducing abortion,” Keating said.

Neither Davis nor Ryan are members of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, but the organization, which includes a heavily Republican membership, does not endorse legislation.

There is no companion legislation to either bill in the Senate, but DFLA said it expects to see a bill introduced next year.