New push in Congress for common ground on abortion

Seeking elusive common ground on abortion, prominent activists and clergy on both sides of the debate are throwing their support behind a bill aimed at preventing unintended pregnancies and supporting pregnant women.

The bill's backers hope President Barack Obama, who has appealed for a more civil tone to the debate, will embrace it as a step toward reducing the need for abortions, but many staunch anti-abortion leaders remain hostile. "It's part of a big political scam," said Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee.

At issue is the so-called Ryan-DeLauro bill - first introduced in 2006 and being reintroduced Thursday by Reps. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. Supporters range from abortion-rights activists to Roman Catholic academics who consider abortion an evil.

"This is a landmark bill for the culture wars - a prototype for how we can approach things in the future," said the Rev. Joel Hunter, an evangelical megachurch pastor from Orlando, Fla., who opposes abortion.

Hunter, who serves on the White House faith-based advisory council, said the key to the bill is its breadth - appealing to liberals with proposals to prevent unintended pregnancies and to conservatives with provisions to support women who choose to carry unintended pregnancies to term.

"When you realize you need someone who's been an adversary to help you advance your own projects, that's a big deal," Hunter said.

Among the bill's many provisions: increased access to contraceptives, expanded Medicaid coverage for family planning, more support for comprehensive sex education, support for pregnant and parenting college students and expanded adoption assistance. The Congressional Budget Office has not yet done an analysis of the bill's potential cost.

While Obama has urged Americans to seek common ground on reducing the need for abortions, the White House has yet to propose or endorse any specific legislation to achieve that.

Joshua DuBois, director of Obama's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said the administration is still assessing input gathered during consultations with groups on both sides of the debate.

Ryan and DeLauro noted that Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, had backed their bill when he served in the House, and they expressed optimism that presidential support would come eventually - boosting its chances for advancing.

"This is a bill that seems to mesh with the president's interests," DeLauro said. "I see no reason why the White House could not endorse it."

Among those backing the bill are two major abortion-rights groups - the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and NARAL Pro-Choice America. Abortion opponents voicing support include the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and the Rev. Frank Page, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention who, like Hunter, serves on Obama's faith-based council.

Page expressed concern that the bill might lead to more federal involvement in personal lives, but said the overall intent - to reduce abortions - was positive.

"This isn't a radical bill," said Laurie Rubiner, head of Planned Parenthood's Washington office. "It only seems radical because it's been so long that we could have a constructive conversation ... with both pro-choice and anti-choice groups around the table."

Thus far, no major anti-abortion organization or senior Catholic clergyman has endorsed the bill.

For the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, one of the main problems is the promotion of contraception. Anthony Picarello, general counsel of the conference, said the bishops favor a competing bill - the Pregnant Women's Support Act - that would encourage women to carry unintended pregnancies to term but does not deal with preventing such pregnancies.

Douglas Johnson, the National Right to Life Committee's legislative director, described the Ryan-DeLauro bill as a part of "political scam" aimed at portraying Obama and other Democrats as moderate on abortion while catering to their backers in the abortion-rights community.

"The common ground that Barack Obama seeks for the pro-life movement is the burial ground," Johnson said. "The bill is crafted in such a way as to put more resources in the hands of people providing and advocating for abortion."

Johnson and his allies also have been active this week warning that current Democratic proposals for overhauling health care would lead to taxpayer-funded abortions. Ryan has waded into that dispute, suggesting a compromise that would let private insurers decide for themselves on abortion coverage but bar use of federal funds for the procedure.

Ryan, a Roman Catholic, describes himself as "pro-life" but has drawn the wrath of anti-abortion activists in recent years for several votes he's cast.

"Don't blame me for wanting to solve problems," he said. "Whether you say you're pro-life or pro-choice, most reasonable people will say we should try to reduce unintended pregnancies and the need for abortions."

Among the enthusiastic supporters of his bill is Jim Wallis, founder of the liberal Christian social-justice network Sojourners.

"This issue has polarized and paralyzed us for years ... but with all the debate and the blaming and yelling, nothing has changed in the abortion rate," Wallis said. "We have to look for solutions, and that's what this bill does."

"If we can find common ground on abortion," he added, "we can find it on anything."