
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 7, 1990                   TAG: 9007070353
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BATON ROUGE, LA.                                LENGTH: Medium

LOUISIANA HOUSE OVERRIDES VETO OF ANTI-ABORTION BILL

The Louisiana House on Friday night voted to override Gov. Buddy Roemer's veto of the nation's strongest state abortion bill, which contains no exceptions for rape or incest.

The vote was 73-31, three more votes than were needed for a House veto override.

The state Senate still had to deal with the veto Roemer issued earlier in the day. Senators voted 21-18 to adjourn late Friday rather than vote on an override.

Sen. Allen Bares conceded on the floor that the bill's backers didn't have the 26 votes needed to override. The adjournment gave abortion opponents three days to lobby the Senate. By law, the Legislature must end its current session Monday night.

If the Senate also votes to override, it would be the first override of a gubernatorial veto this century.

The measure would send doctors who perform abortions to jail for up to 10 years and fined them up to $100,000. It was written for the purpose of challenging the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Roemer signed the veto Friday morning, according to his staff attorney, John Kennedy.

"As a member of Congress, I consistently voted to curb abortion on demand and to protect the life of a fetus," Roemer wrote in the veto message. "I initially voted for the exception to save the life of a mother, but over the years of struggling with this issue I became acutely aware of the need to except those instances where conception occurred because of rape or incest.

"Women cannot and should not be forced to bear the consequences of these traumatic, illegal acts."

by CNB