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Partial-birth abortion ban gets Congressional push
House Republicans are again pushing for a total ban on partial-birth abortion, the Associated Press reports.

"It's time for Congress to act and place this bill in front of the president so that we can finally end this national tragedy," says Rep. Steve Chabot, sponsor of H.R. 760. "While I expect that some of the Senate's most zealous pro-abortion advocates will again attempt to block this legislation, I am confident that we will finally be able to pass this ban into law."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner says House Republican leaders hope to have the bill passed before the Easter break.

But "some lawmakers hoped to counter the bill with legislation introduced Thursday that would ban the late-term abortions except when they are performed to protect the mother's life," the AP reports. Supporters of this bill say such an exception will make it more likely to stand up to a Supreme Court challenge (the court struck down a Nebraska ban on the procedure in 2000). But prolife organizations criticized this alternative bill a counterfeit when it was introduced in earlier conferences.

Yesterday, the Virginia Senate Education and Health Committee, which The Roanoke Times notes is "historically hostile to anti-abortion measures," approved a partial-birth abortion ban and a parental consent bill. "This year's legislative agenda contains 10 years worth of prolife legislation rolled into one," Delegate Richard H. Black told The Washington Times.

More life ethics news:

• Nurse nabbed in abortion clinic shooting | Brenda Kaye Phillips, 44, of Murphy, was charged with one misdemeanor count of damage to property for shooting at the Femcare Women's Clinic early Thursday (Associated Press)
  
  
• School pulls Granholm lunch from auction | Mercy Catholic parents protest her pro-choice stance (The Detroit News)
  
  
• Panel approves ban on cloning | Legislation to ban human cloning for any purpose, including medical research, was approved yesterday on a party-line vote by the House Judiciary Committee (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Advances make ban on human cloning hot issue in Congress | But because of sharp divisions within Congress and even within the parties over how sweeping a cloning ban should be, the legislation may not become law, even though virtually everyone supports some sort of a cloning prohibition (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Life can win | The nation's most permissive cloning bill gets pulled (Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online)

Pat Robertson has prostate cancer
Broadcaster Pat Robertson announced yesterday on his 700 Clubbroadcast that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery Monday to remove his prostate gland.

"Hopefully, I will be back up and around in two weeks and all will be well, but I would appreciate everybody's prayer," he said.

A press release on his website says that "after extensive tests, it has been determined that the cancer does not appear to have metastasized beyond the prostate."

Several media outlets note that Robertson has long been on a health kick, and one of his most recent campaigns is for "Pat's Age-Defying Protein Pancake," which he designed to "help protect against breast, uterine, and prostate cancer."

He has also written on the effects of prostate surgery.

Church and state:

• Pledge bill sails through House | Opponents of Senate Bill 105 have argued forcing school children to utter the pledge phrase "under God" promotes religion in violation of the principle of the separation of church and state. (The Salt Lake Tribune)
  
  

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February (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47