Choice Decision

Another antiabortion setback

With gaudy antiabortion posters set up in the normally staid Senate chamber, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and his conservative allies pressed for a constitutional amendment that would overturn the historic 1973 Supreme Court decision (Roe vs. Wade) that guarantees women a constitutional right to abortion. "The country is on a slippery slope to infanticide," warned Senator Jeremiah Denton of Alabama. "Even dogs have more protection than the unborn," said Hatch. But after two days of speeches in a largely empty Senate chamber, the ten-word Hatch amendment fell 18 votes short of the required two-thirds majority last week and failed by two votes to muster even a simple majority.

This was the second recent setback for the pro-life movement. Three weeks ago, a series of Supreme Court rulings solidly supported a woman's right to have an abortion. Said Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon, a leader of the pro-choice forces: "This is the end of any serious effort" by the antiabortion movement. Perhaps, but still to come is legislation pushed by Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina outlawing abortion. This bill faces a Senate filibuster and serious trouble in the House. Even if it passed Congress, it would face problems in the courts. Nonetheless, notes Senator William Armstrong of Colorado, who supports antiabortion measures, "This issue is not going to go away."

Surgeon General Everett Koop has announced the Administration's revision of the "Baby Doe" regulations governing some 6,800 hospitals that receive federal funds. Now they must post notices at nurses' stations on each pediatric, maternity and nursery floor stating that failure to give handicapped infants essentially the same quality of care as the nonhandicapped is illegal. The regulations were prompted by a Bloomington, Ind., case last year, when a child born with Down's syndrome was denied surgery and nourishment, and died. In April, a federal judge struck down the original Health and Human Services Department regulations that called for signs in public areas; the new version would require notices to be tacked up only where child-care professionals would see them. Koop maintains that the failure of hospitals to feed and care for disabled newborns is more widespread than commonly believed. But pediatricians generally regard the latest formulation as a police-type measure. The American Academy of Pediatrics was making plans to fight the new regulations in the courts. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.