Late Term

NEW YORK -- At a time when the Republican Party is struggling to overcome strong internal disagreements on abortion and other social issues, New York Gov. George E. Pataki says it is time to remove the anti-abortion plank from the party's platform.In remarks sure to anger the GOP's conservative wing, Pataki said Thursday that the platform should recognize "diverse opinions" on abortion."A plank that says we have to all believe or act one way or the other is inappropriate," the two-term Republican governor said in an interview.

ANOTHER WEEK, another decision on abortion rights, and another ruling upholding the essential basis for Roe vs. Wade.A federal judge Tuesday struck down a New Jersey statute that would have banned late-term abortions. The judge said the law threatened "a woman's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy."The law would have allowed the state to fine doctors and take their licenses for performing the procedure. "It is in the public interest to prevent the act from taking effect, and thereby protect a woman's right to choose," the judge said.

WASHINGTON -- For the second time in two years, the Senate has failed to override President Clinton's veto of a ban on a late-term abortion procedure that opponents call "partial birth."The vote yesterday was 64-36, three shy of the two-thirds needed to override. Maryland's Democratic senators, Barbara A. Mikulski and Paul S. Sarbanes, voted against an override.While the debate, the graphic charts, the anecdotal stories and the vote itself were familiar, the stark mathematics of the November elections loomed large over the Senate.

WASHINGTON -- As the House prepared to vote today on whether to override President Clinton's veto of a ban on an abortion method critics find particularly offensive, Maryland Democrat Steny H. Hoyer led a small group of lawmakers who called instead for a ban on nearly all late-term abortions.Twice during this Congress, Clinton vetoed bills to outlaw the controversial procedure, which critics have dubbed "partial birth" because it is performed in the birth canal. While the House is expected for the second time to secure enough votes to override the president, the bill's prospects are less certain in the Senate.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court turned aside yesterday the first test case on a new round of laws that are intended to stop abortions from being performed late in pregnancy.Without comment but over three justices' dissents, the court refused to consider a plea by the state of Ohio -- backed by 16 other states -- to reinstate a 1995 Ohio law that sought to impose a flat ban on abortions after about 22 weeks of pregnancy.A federal appeals court based in Cincinnati struck down that law in November.

In a surprise vote that likely defuses an explosive State House issue, the Maryland Senate rejected an anti-abortion bill yesterday, as a handful of swing legislators decided the measure was too broadly drafted.After nearly two hours of debate that included graphic descriptions of abortion procedures, the Senate voted 26-21 to send the legislation back to committee - a rare move that appears to end General Assembly consideration of the matter this year.While Sen. Larry E. Haines, the bill's chief sponsor, promised to continue fighting for the bill, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller had a concise assessment of the measure's chances this year:"It's over."

Legislation that would ban a controversial late-term abortion procedure is threatening to disrupt the General Assembly's 90-day session and become a contentious election-year issue.A Senate committee will hear testimony today on a measure sponsored by Sen. Larry E. Haines and 11 other senators that would prohibit a procedure that critics have called "partial-birth abortion."While Maryland voters and legislators have generally supported abortion rights, anti-abortion forces think they have a chance of getting the Assembly to ban the procedure this year.

ON ONE POINT, supporters and opponents of legalized abortion can agree: Any late-term abortion procedure is difficult, both physically and morally.In Maryland, as in many other states, abortions are already illegal past the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb -- a point reached late in the second trimester of pregnancy. The power to make such decisions was reserved to the states in Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the early stages of pregnancy.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ago today, when the Supreme Court issued long-awaited rulings in two abortion cases, even advocates of legal abortion were surprised by the extent of their victory. After years of fighting for incremental liberalization, almost no one expected the court to overrule virtually all restrictions on legalized abortion.The decision erased the need for an underground network of abortion counselors and providers. Some of these services had offered access to competently performed abortions.

WASHINGTON -- In a move that could reverberate through the Republican Party for years to come, anti-abortion activists are seeking to cut off party funds to any candidates who support late-term, or "partial-birth," abortions.The proposal, which will be voted on this month by the Republican National Committee, effectively would end the party's decades-long quest to be a "big tent" that welcomes members from both sides of the divisive issue.It easily could hurt Republicans in close races where party money often makes a difference, as it did for New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman in her 1997 re-election.