But the state's Right to Life group opposed the exceptions, arguing that "babies conceived of rape and incest deserve to live too," said Lena Jones, the organization's office manager.
The deadlock killed the ban before it came to a vote in the state Senate.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday June 07, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction
Abortion: An article in Wednesday's Section A about a rift in the antiabortion movement stated that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act contains no exceptions. There is an exception permitting the procedure if the woman's life is in danger, but not if her health is at risk.
Daniel McConchie, a top antiabortion strategist and vice president of Americans United for Life, said the internal feuding could tarnish his movement's image a bit: "It can have some negative backlash." But he does not expect any falloff in fundraising.
In general, organizations committed to an incremental strategy take in far more money than the absolutist groups. Rohrbough's group runs on a budget of about $150,000 a year. By contrast, the National Right to Life Committee raised more than $9.7 million last year, according to Internal Revenue Service filings. Americans United for Life raised $1.9 million.
At the daylong meeting Tuesday, academics, Supreme Court experts, lawyers and strategists from conservative lobbying groups such as Concerned Women for America laid plans for their next offensive -- one that builds on the incremental approach. Their goal is to reduce the number of abortions, estimated at 1.3 million a year by the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization affiliated with Planned Parenthood.
Among their proposals: Laws requiring women to be told in more detail how fetuses die in abortions. State-funded public-health campaigns warning women that abortions could cause psychological trauma. And requirements that abortion doctors report detailed demographic and medical information about their patients to the state.
They have not decided which campaigns they'll pursue first -- or in which states -- but they promise an aggressive year, perhaps including a drive for state bans on other mid- and late-term abortion methods.
"We're looking at a whole gamut of ideas," McConchie said. "We're very confident we'll be able to pursue the next stages without a huge amount of dissention."
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stephanie.simon@latimes.com
