Pro-Abortion Freedom of Choice Act Officially Introduced in Congress 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 23, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The pro-abortion Freedom of Choice Act was officially introduced on Thursday and the legislation would codify the Roe v. Wade decision into law. That would make legalized abortion the law of the land, but it also would overturn the pro-life laws state legislature have enacted.
The FOCA bill would "bar government, at any level, from interfering with a woman’s fundamental right to choose to bear a child or to terminate a pregnancy."
Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, is behind the bill in the Senate and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, is the sponsor of the bill in the House.
"We can no longer rely on the Supreme Court to protect a woman’s constitutional right to choose," Nadler said in introducing the bill and responding to the high court’s decision to uphold a national ban on partial-birth abortions.
Democrats control both chambers and the measure will likely get a hearing in both but there are likely enough votes to stop the bill, especially in the Senate where any senator can use a filibuster to force a 60-vote majority to cut off debate.
Boxer said she would start with the 52 senators, including eight Republicans, who voted in 2003 to affirm the principles of Roe v. Wade.
However, Sen. Diane Feinstein admitted to the Associated Press that abortion activists likely don’t have the votes to move it forward.
"We’ve been losing fight after fight after fight," she said.
Sen. Diane Feinstein admitted to the Associated Press that abortion activists likely don’t have the votes to move it forward.
"We’ve been losing fight after fight after fight," she said.
Following the high court’s decision, leading abortion advocates said they would put the bill back on the table.
"So how are we going to defeat this ban now that Bush’s appointees upheld it? Simple," NARAL’s president Nancy Keenan explained in an email to her supporters that LifeNews.com obtained.
"We’re starting an all-out campaign to support the Freedom of Choice Act. Here’s how it starts: The Freedom of Choice Act is legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade into law, and guarantee the right to choose for generations to come," she said.
The Feminist Majority Foundation agreed and emailed its donors saying "We must work to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, which will codify Roe so that it cannot be further assaulted."
Abortion advocates first promoted the Freedom of Choice Act during the early part of the Clinton administration but gave up on it after Republicans took control of Congress because most of them were staunchly pro-life.
