Pro-life and pro-family groups vow that President Clinton's veto April 10 of the "partial birth" abortion ban bill will haunt him in November's election.

Clinton said the bill needed an exception for the health of mothers, but pro-life groups indicated that exemptions on psychological or emotional grounds would have rendered the law meaningless. "President Clinton is defending the killing of live, kicking babies who feel pain and who are a mere three inches from birth," says Michael Ferguson, executive director of the Catholic Campaign for America.

The House banned the controversial third trimester procedure (CT, Dec. 11, 1996, p. 69) in March by a vote of 286 to 129. The Senate did the same last December by a 55-to-44 vote, not enough to sustain the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto.