Lieberman's Record on Abortion

• Lieberman has consistently voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and has voted to uphold Clinton's veto of that bill.
• Lieberman was a co-sponsor of the "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA) which would have established a right to abortion broader than the Supreme Court recognized in Planned Parenthood v. Casey and would have invalidated even very popular and modest abortion regulations, like "Woman's Right to Know" laws which included 24-hour waiting periods.
• Lieberman has consistently voted against the Hyde Amendment, which prevents forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions in government programs like Medicaid. Lieberman supported the inclusion of abortion in the "standard benefits package" that all Americans would have been required by law to have under Clinton's proposed National Health Care proposal.
• On March 19, 1996, Lieberman was one of only 37 senators who voted against the Coats Amendment, which protected the conscience rights of medical training programs that object to providing training in abortion methods.
• Lieberman has said that he supports parental notification. But he voted against an amendment that would have required organizations receiving certain federal funds to notify a parent 48 hours prior to an abortion on a minor (with exceptions for cases of sexual abuse, child abuse, child neglect or medical emergency). Instead, Lieberman voted for an "alternative" amendment that would have allowed an abortion to be performed with the consent of any adult family member or when the abortionist himself believed that it was in the girl's "best interest" not to notify a parent. (Vote for Mitchell Amendment, July 16,1991.)

Posted 16 Aug 2000.
Copyright 2000 by Ohio Right to Life.
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