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Nadler Amendment Defeated

An amendment which would have required convicted violators of FACE and other abortion clinic protection laws to pay court-ordered damages was defeated yesterday in the House Judiciary Committee.

The vote was split by party line, with Democrats favoring the amendment and Republicans opposing it. The amendment, offered as part of a larger package of bankruptcy reform laws, was designed to stop convicted individuals and organizations from using bankruptcy laws to avoid paying damage awards. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) defended the amendment yesterday, explaining that “some abortion saboteurs might be let off the hook in bankruptcy if they could prove that their actions at a clinic, while destructive, were not intended to harm lives.”

Nadler and other Democratic supporters have promised to keep fighting for the amendment, and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) may propose similar legislation to the Senate Judiciary Committee during its bankruptcy reform markup today.

Sources:

Kaiser Family Foundation - April 22, 1999

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