Anti-abortion advocates responding to the results of the presidential election announced that with President Bush’s win and the Republican Party’s increased control of the US Congress, they have hopes that the administration will successfully pursue an anti-choice agenda. Citing a net gain of three anti-choice senators, the National Right to Life Committee is planning to pursue legislation that would make it a crime to travel with a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion in order to circumvent restrictive parental notification laws that inhibit a woman’s right to choose, according to Reuters. Anti-abortion advocates are also aiming to ban human cloning, even for stem cell research purposes, as well as secure right-wing, anti-abortion nominations to federal courts. The Baltimore Sun has reported that these conservative anti-abortion leaders have decried President Bush’s call for unity, saying he should instead fulfill the campaign promises he made to evangelical Christians, which include nominating anti-choice judges to the US Supreme Court. Yesterday, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), who is expected to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee this year, warned President Bush against nominating justices who would be too conservative to confirm, including those who support overturning Roe v. Wade. Right-wing activist Gary Bauer responded in the Baltimore Sun, warning Democrats serving in Congress that if they chose not to approve President Bush’s right-wing nominees, they could be voted out of office as Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) was on Tuesday. With 44 Democrats in the Senate, Republicans still do not have the 60 Senators necessary to end a filibuster by the Democrats. Democratic filibusters have succeeded in blocking ten of the extremist judicial nominees put forth by President Bush. However, the vast majority of Bush’s nominations for the federal bench (201) were confirmed by the Senate in his first term. Currently, there are only 28 vacancies on the federal bench – the lowest vacancy rate (3 percent) on the federal bench over the past decade. By contrast, after Clinton’s last term, 65 Clinton nominees were left hanging or withdrew, according to the Alliance for Justice. DONATE to protect the right to a safe, legal abortion
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