Analysis: Freedom of Choice bill unlikely to get anywhere in Congress

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-- CNS/Reuters/Jim Young: Newly elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives pose on the steps of the Capitol in Washington Nov. 17.About the only thing everyone with a stake in it is likely to agree on about the Freedom of Choice Act is that the legislation has languished in Congress for 20 years.

What’s harder to nail down is whether the bill, known as FOCA, is going anywhere under the 111th Congress that begins in January.

Although there was no effort in the 110th Congress to move the bill along, pro-life organizations have since the summer been sounding the alarm about what would happen to current restrictions on abortion if a Democrat were elected president.

They also voice concerns for possible administrative actions under Democratic President-elect Barack Obama, such as reversing the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research; and repealing the Hyde amendment, which bars federal funding of abortions, and the Mexico City policy, which prohibits foreign aid money from going to family-planning programs that promote and offer abortion.

But stopping FOCA has become the rallying cry for the American Life League, the National Right to Life Committee and Priests for Life, among other pro-life groups. It was the central focus of a statement about the government transition issued Nov. 12 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A legal analysis of the most recent version of FOCA by the general counsel’s staff of the bishops’ conference warned that it would wipe out many existing state laws and impede states’ ability to regulate abortion, such as parental notification requirements; abortion clinic regulations; bars to government funding of abortion; and laws protecting the right of medical personnel and institutions to decline to participate in abortions.

Pro-life leaders have focused on President-elect Obama’s July 2007 answer to a question during an address to a Planned Parenthood group that signing the bill would be “the first thing I’d do as president.”

But that presupposes FOCA gets out of Congress.

Spokesmen for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and the bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, all declined to discuss the prospects of any specific bill in a legislative session that doesn’t start until January.

All pending bills expire at the end of each two-year congressional session, so FOCA would have to be reintroduced.

Erica Chabot, press secretary to the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she can’t recall Leahy “ever mentioning this piece of legislation.” That doesn’t necessarily mean it couldn’t suddenly move up on the committee’s priority list, she said.

However, “if there were overwhelming support for a bill, chances are I would have heard something about it,” Chabot told Catholic News Service.

Staffers for those Democratic leaders and staffers for other members of Congress -- Democrats and Republicans -- all emphasized that the priorities of the 111th Congress will be the economy and the war in Iraq. Speaking on background, several said passing FOCA is not a priority.

Kristin Day, executive director of Democrats for Life, called FOCA a radical bill, but while it’s worthwhile to highlight its problems, “I don’t think it’s likely to pass anytime soon.”

Day said it’s more likely that administrative orders will reverse the Mexico City policy or expand federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. She wonders why there isn’t more effort being put into highlighting opposition to such changes.

At a Democrats for Life event during the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., called FOCA “dead on arrival,” Day said. She said pro-life Democrats, including Casey and Reps. Lincoln Davis of Tennessee and Heath Shuler of North Carolina, who backed Obama during the campaign, expect their voices to matter when it comes to the legislative priorities of the White House.

The only time FOCA ever moved beyond the committee stage is in 1993, when Democrats controlled the House, Senate and the White House for the first time in 12 years. It has never come up for debate or a vote in the House or Senate.

Sr. Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, said the association has always opposed FOCA and will continue to do so. But “even if this bad legislation were to pass, we would not be forced to participate [in providing abortions] and we will fight for that,” she said.

First, however, Keehan said, “we must focus on protecting mothers and their unborn children.” Easily accessible and high-quality obstetrical care, assistance with food stamps, housing, education and child care can help women feel they have options other than abortion, she said.

She said the Catholic Health Association has been in touch with Obama’s transition team.

“We’ve found [Obama’s staff] more than willing to discuss our perspective,” she said. “They recognize we play a fairly significant role in health care and are a large part of the social safety net.”

National Catholic Reporter December 12, 2008