Religious beliefs, ideas about personal liberty and questions about when life begins all factor into the abortion debate. Apart from these core issues are policy questions, including whether the federal government should pay for abortions or fund organizations that perform them, whether teenagers should be forced to notify their parents before they have an abortion, and to what extent states should be allowed to regulate abortion.

• Supports abortion rights in accordance with Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
• Supports federal funding of abortions for the poor in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother's life.
• Supports federal funding of organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, that are involved in providing abortions.

• Opposes any government support for or funding of abortions.
• Supports right to an abortion in cases of rape, incest or when a mother's life is in danger.
• Opposes constitutional amendment to ban all abortions.

Legislative Record

• Voted to prohibit use of federal funds to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or when it will save the life of the mother (Hyde Amendment, 1993).
• Voted for the clinic access bill (1993).

Interest Group Ratings

• National Right to Life Committee -- 1993 rating: 80
• National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League -- 1994 rating: 0