c. 1998 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Both sides on the contentious abortion issue describe Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., as staunchly anti-abortion, but disagree on how much he can advance that agenda as the new speaker of the House of Representatives.

Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said Livingston, a Republican from suburban New Orleans, has not voted with supporters of legal abortion even once since being elected to Congress in 1977.

But she expressed hope Livingston would consider the positions of her side on at least some issues. He won election as speaker by his GOP caucus Wednesday (Nov. 18) and will be sworn in as speaker on Jan. 6.

“Notwithstanding his personal views on reproductive choice,” Michelman said Livingston should consider bills to “make abortion less necessary and improve access to reproductive health services for American women.”

Abortion opponents said they believe Livingston will do everything he can to help pass their two legislative priorities _ a ban on a late-term procedure known by opponents as”partial-birth abortion,”and legislation making it a crime to take a minor across state lines for an abortion.

But they conceded enacting either measure into law was made more difficult by the November election. Estimates suggest abortion opponents lost anywhere from four to 10 seats in the House, and, at best, gained one member in the Senate. Precise numbers are hard to come by because the in-depth views of all newly elected members to the House and Senate are not known.

Last year, both the House and Senate passed bills banning the late-term procedure, but the Senate failed by three votes to get the two-thirds majority needed to override President Clinton’s veto. The bill barring adults other than parents or guardians from helping minors get an abortion in another state passed the House, but never made it to the Senate floor.

“Bob Livingston is a man of tremendous integrity and no matter where the numbers stand, we believe he can accomplish a lot,” said Peg Kenny of Louisiana Right to Life.

Over the past several years, some abortion opponents have criticized Livingston for sometimes resisting anti-abortion riders being attached to spending bills. He complained that some of them made legislation veto targets by Clinton _ and threatened government closures unpopular with most voters.

But most groups opposed to legal abortion continue to praise Livingston.

“We hold Mr. Livingston in high regard, as someone who has been supportive of the pro-life agenda for many years in Congress,” said Doug Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

He said that although abortion opponents have occasionally disagreed with Livingston on tactics, “the fact is that he helped get six pro-life policies enacted into law” directly though appropriations bills.” They included measures barring the District of Columbia government from paying for abortions, prohibiting federal medical insurance policies from covering abortions, and denying funding for abortions through the federal prison system.

“As speaker, Bob Livingston is not going to forget who he is, or the pro-life voters who helped send him to Congress,” Johnson said.

Johnson said Livingston got a 100 percent rating for his votes on abortion issues during the 1997-98 session of Congress.

Michelman said that Livingston has cast 140 votes on abortion and reproductive rights while serving in the United States Congress. Of that number, 139 were”anti-choice”votes, and one was a vote just indicating he was present but not voting, she said.

Nevertheless, Michelman said she hopes Livingston will stand up to social conservatives, “whose extremism” clearly is out of step with most Americans.”For too long, leaders in Congress have allowed social conservatives to burden the legislative process with their extreme anti-choice agenda and short-sighted demands for action on abortion,” Michelman said. “They have allowed their religious right to undermine the appropriations process, often loading up key spending bills with anti-choice riders that ultimately endanger women’s health.”

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