WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled Senate joined the House yesterday in rolling back abortion rights granted by President Clinton, voting 50-44 to deny abortion coverage to federal employees except for rape, incest or if the life of the mother is endangered.
Tempers flared during a long day of debate that resulted in a slight loosening of a House provision that would have provided coverage only if the life of the woman were imperiled.
But in the first test this year of Senate sentiment on the volatile abortion issue, the tally made clear that the chamber is not going to block entirely the wholesale dismantling of abortion rights that many in the House Republican majority are seeking.
"This is a turning back of the clock of reproductive health and women's fundamental right to reproductive choice," protested Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, who stayed up nearly all night preparing to lead the fight to protect rights of federal workers. "We have been here before."
The most eloquent case for adding exceptions for rape and incest was made by Sen. Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, whose wife was attacked two years ago on Capitol Hill by a convicted rapist. The assailant put a gun to her head, but Mrs. Conrad was able to escape.
"Anybody that would say to my wife -- if she had been raped by that vicious criminal -- that she ought to carry that baby to term . . . that is vicious and monstrous," Senator Conrad proclaimed, pounding his desk so hard water bounced out of a glass.
"How can anybody stand on the floor of this Senate and say to somebody that's been victimized, that they ought to be victimized again?" he said.
Mr. Conrad was one of eight senators -- three Democrats and five Republicans -- who voted with Ms. Mikulski on a 52-41 tally to reject the House policy of limiting abortion coverage for mothers whose lives are endangered. The eight senators later agreed to restrict abortion rights when exceptions for rape and incest were added.
"I don't want taxpayers to have to subsidize abortion as a fringe benefit," said Oklahoma Republican Don Nickles, who led the effort to restrict abortion coverage. "This is not an issue about a woman's right to choose. This is about taxpayer dollars being used to destroy an innocent human life."
About 1.2 million federal workers nationwide, many of them in Maryland, are potentially affected by the Senate's action, which must be reconciled with that of the House.
The abortion language is part of a $25 billion spending bill that finances the Treasury Department, the Postal Service and other agencies.
The bill was approved by the Senate on a voice vote late yesterday afternoon.
Clinton may veto it
President Clinton may decide to veto the bill if it comes to him as a separate measure.
But it is not clear whether Mr. Clinton will be able to sustain his position in the final negotiations with Congress over the federal budget because there will be so many controversial issues also in play.
Current health insurance policy, set by President Clinton in 1993, imposes no restrictions on abortion coverage for federal workers, who can chose from a menu of 345 health plans, about half of which offer abortion benefits.
The government pays 72 percent of the premiums for the plans, and employees make up the difference.
An attempt yesterday by Ms. Mikulski to add another exception to the abortion language was turned down 45-49. Her proposal would have allowed coverage in cases deemed "medically necessary" by a physician.
More 'dangerous' for women
It was the first time the Senate has gone so far to limit abortion rights for federal workers, said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. "The Senate has opened the door toward making abortions more difficult and dangerous for all women."
The prohibition in the House bill is a return to the policy first imposed during the 1980s under Republican President Ronald Reagan and reversed by President Clinton in 1993.
Sen. Daniel R. Coats, an Indiana Republican, contended yesterday that 17,000 abortions had been prevented because of restrictions imposed during the Reagan years.
Unfair to federal workers
Opponents of the restrictions argued it would be unfair to deny federal employees insurance benefits that are available to workers in the private sector.
"I hope the men and women of America are listening," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat.
"This is not some ideological dispute; it affects their lives.
"I want them to think of a daughter, of a niece, of an aunt or a cousin, who might find herself in a very troubled pregnancy and not be able to use her insurance. . . . Do you trust a United States senator who doesn't even know your family to make this personal, agonizing decision?"
Mrs. Boxer and Ms. Mikulski and other female senators who fought to retain the Clinton abortion policy left the Capitol yesterday in foul moods.
"That's the result of the election," Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said of the change in the political equation on abortion prompted by the GOP congressional landslide last year.
