HOUSE APPROVES BAN ON ABORTION

The Missouri House voted 127-26 Thursday to outlaw partial-birth abortions and sent the bill to the governor.

Gov. Mel Carnahan, a supporter of abortion rights, said he was troubled by the measure. He said he was undecided whether to sign or veto the bill, which earlier in the session passed the Senate.

Carnahan told The Associated Press the bill doesn't include an exception for situations involving "serious health problems" for the mother. He said he would have preferred to see such language included in the bill.

All of the Southeast Missouri legislators in both parties voted for the bill.

It would outlaw a late-term abortion procedure in which a doctor partially delivers a living fetus and then kills it.

Doctors convicted of performing such abortions would face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, was elated by the wide margin by which his bill passed the House. "It is my biggest legislative triumph since I came here," he said.

House members rejected efforts by abortion-rights lawmakers to amend Kinder's bill.

The House debated the bill for about an hour and a half late Wednesday night and early Thursday before approving the measure around 12:30 a.m.

Kinder said he hopes Carnahan will sign the bill. "But if his heart is hardened, then I am going to be leading a veto override when we come back here in September," he said.

The Legislature seldom can muster enough votes -- 20 in the Senate and 109 in the House -- to override a governor's veto.

But Kinder said lawmakers would have a "decent shot" of overriding a veto on this bill.

Missouri is the 11th state within the past year to pass such a bill, Kinder said.

Rep. Patrick Naeger, R-Perryville, called passage of Kinder's bill "a real, defining moment in the history of Missouri."

"I think we as public policymakers have the profound responsibility to take this kind of action against such a barbaric procedure," he said.

"I hope that Gov. Carnahan does not decide to follow in the footsteps of the president," said Naeger, referring to President Clinton's veto of federal legislation that would have banned partial-birth abortions.

Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson, said the proposed ban has bipartisan support in the Legislature.

"It is a horrible procedure," he said. "I really have trouble understanding how anyone could oppose our bill."

Anti-abortion lawmakers suggested Wednesday they might hold up debate on other legislation if the measure wasn't brought up for a vote.

House Democratic leaders refused to juggle their agenda, but several lawmakers agreed to allow their bills be skipped so the abortion bill could be voted on.

Rep. Joe Heckemeyer, D-Sikeston, voted for the bill even though he said it was poorly worded.

He said the bill may have some constitutional problems and could end up in the courts.