By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As of press time, leading US Senate Democrats are continuing to block the Child Custody Protection Act (CCPA) from moving to negotiations with the US House of Representatives.ÂThe procedural tactic threatens to kill the bill which makes illegal the transportation of underage girls across state lines to obtain abortions in order toÂcircumvent parental notification laws in the girls’ home states.
Since the House and the Senate passed slightly different versions of the CCPA, a conference committee of Senate and House delegates must hammer out any differences in order to produce a final version of the bill for passage by both houses of Congress.
The Senate’s version of the bill passed last week 65-34 in the Senate, with the support of Senate Minority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid himself. Reid has since been working to block the bill.
Earlier Sen. Durbin, the democratic minority whip, demanded that Senate MajorityÂLeader BillÂFrist promise any final version of the CCPA would include an amendment submitted by Sen. Boxer (D-CA), which removes the parental rights of incest perpetrators. The Boxer amendment was passed 98-0 by senators, andÂforbids a father who impregnates his daughter from transporting her to another state for an abortion or from suing a person who takes her across state lines for an abortion.
Frist promised not to support a final version of the bill that did not include the amendment. He then called for a vote to send the bill to the conference committee, a vote that was then obstructed by Sen. Reid.
Pro-lifers fear that if CCPA doesn’t leave the Senate for conference today, there will be very little time to get a vote on a version of the bill acceptable to both houses of congress, and the bill may die. The Senate commences a month-long recess on August 7.
By all accounts Senate democrats seem to be pursuing a tactic of “running out the clock.” Once the senate reconvenes on September 5, only a month will remain for both houses to approve a final version of CCPA before they adjourn on October 6.
Frist still has the option to force a vote on the bill by calling for a cloture vote - which requires 60 votes - in order to send CCPA to the congressional negotiators.
President Bush has said he would sign the legislation into law should it be presented to him.
An April 2005 poll by The Polling Co., revealed that 82 percent of Americans objected to a person being able “to take a minor girl across state lines to obtain an abortion without her parents’ knowledge.”
See previous LifeSite coverage:
Parental Notification Bill Passed: Democratic Caucus Moves to Kill Bill by Procedural Obstruction
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06072606.html