ANTI-ABORTION BILL VETOED; CARNAHAN REJECTS BAN ON PARTIAL-BIRTH PROCEDURE

Gov. Mel Carnahan Monday vetoed a bill that would have banned partial-birth abortions.

He said he did so because the bill didn't allow an exception for protecting the mother's health.

Carnahan said the legislation was unconstitutional because it didn't contain a health exception. He said the U.S. Supreme Court has required that exception in rulings as recently as 1992.

The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Peter Kinder, said he and other lawmakers will seek to override the veto and impose the abortion ban.

Under the legislation, doctors convicted of performing such abortions would be subject to a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of as much as $5,000.

Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said his bill included a provision that would have allowed such abortions only to save the woman's life.

Lawmakers excluded the more general "health of the mother" exception.

Kinder and other Southeast Missouri lawmakers said such an exception was too broad and would have provided a loophole to get around the ban.

"It's a chasm you could drive a truck through,' he said.

The Democratic governor's decision puts him at odds with many members of his own party and raises the possibility of a successful override for the first time since 1978.

The legislation to outlaw partial-birth abortions was widely supported by lawmakers in both parties.

It passed the House 127-26, 18 more votes than needed to override a veto. Senators approved the bill 28-3, five more votes than necessary to overturn a veto.

For Kinder's bill to take effect, 109 House members and 23 senators must vote to override Carnahan's veto.

Kinder isn't ready to predict victory in the September veto session.

But he said, "I think we start from a strong position. We have to maintain it."

Kinder and other Republicans predicted the abortion-rights governor will go all out to convince Democratic lawmakers to sustain his veto.

Kinder predicted the Senate will override the veto. He estimated that at least 130 House members currently favor banning the late-term abortion procedure.

Rep. Patrick Naeger, R-Perryville, favors the abortion ban.

Naeger said Carnahan will use all of his political muscle to defeat an override attempt.

"The governor quite frankly doesn't like to lose," he said.

Rep. Larry Thomason, D-Kennett, wants to outlaw partial-birth abortions.

He said doctors have indicated that there are other abortion procedures that can be used.

The American Medical Association also has come out against the procedure.

There is no reason to use a procedure that involves partially delivering a living fetus and then killing it, Thomason said.

"This is a particular procedure that I and most people find just totally reprehensible," he said.

Thomason said he felt the proposed ban was constitutional when he voted for it earlier this year.

But Thomason said that if it is unconstitutional, the governor should call a special session to let lawmakers pass an abortion ban that would be legal.

In vetoing the bill, Carnahan said he would be willing to call a special session at the same time the Legislature holds a veto session in September.

The governor said lawmakers could then specify that partial-birth abortions are prohibited under a broader 1974 prohibition on aborting a viable fetus. That prohibition includes an exception for the woman's health.

Carnahan's veto surprised Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson, who favors the abortion ban.

"I guess I question why do you have to kill a baby in any situation for the health of the mother?" he said.

Schwab said the governor is "grabbing for straws" in his explanation for the veto.

"It is so obviously a life-taking thing," said Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau. "Most pro-choice people would find it abhorrent and horrible."

Naeger said, "This is an assassination of an innocent child, and there are no two ways around it."

Said Naeger, "This is a black and white issue; there is no gray in this."