Abortion Issues

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's high-speed rail initiative would get an enormous boost under a spending bill that a House committee approved Friday.

The 219-208 roll call Thursday by which the House passed a spending bill that would allow the District of Columbia's city government to pay for abortions for the poor and take steps toward legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.

WASHINGTON - Sonia Sotomayor sped toward confirmation as the nation's first Hispanic justice Thursday, encouraged by Republican promises of a quick vote and cheered on by a Democratic senator's challenge to take on the Supreme Court's conservative wing when she arrives. "Battle out the ideas that you believe in, because I have a strong hunch that they are closer to the ones that I would like to see adopted by the court," Sen.

Supreme Court confirmation in sight, Sotomayor deflects questions on abortion, gun rights

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Judge Sonia Sotomayor, aiming to avoid a stumble that might endanger her near-certain ascent to the US Supreme Court, rebuffed senators' questions Wednesday about her abortion rights views.

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is shedding no additional light on her views on abortion, despite persistent questioning from one of the Senate's staunchest abortion opponents.

WASHINGTON - Abortion opponents saw their issue take center stage when Sen. Lindsey Graham questioned Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about her 12-year tenure with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

WASHINGTON - An anti-abortion activist has been removed from Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court confirmation hearing, the fifth demonstrator to disrupt the proceedings in two days.

WASHINGTON - CORRECTS: Sonia Sotomayor calls abortion rights under Roe versus Wade settled precedent. (Corrects APNewsAlert that said she called abortion rights under Roe versus wade 'settled law'.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor fended off Republican attacks on Tuesday, saying "diversity on the bench is good for America" and promising rulings based on law, not racial bias.

PHOENIX - Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday set a new course from her Democratic predecessor on the issue of abortion, signing a measure imposing new mandates and restrictions.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A few weeks after a one-night stand and a failed morning-after pill, Ana saw only one option: Two days later she had her pregnancy terminated at a free clinic.

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Friday promised to try to reduce abortions in his country during his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, while also discussing Middle East peace efforts.

President Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI for the first time today in Rome, and while they offered little in the way of public comment before or after their sit-down, Vatican and U.S. sources said the two engaged in a wide-ranging discussion that touched on immigration policy and the Middle East and that saw Benedict emphasizing the church's conservative position on abortion. [See photos of Obama's meeting with the pope]

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - US President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict XVI on Friday as they met for the first time that he would try to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Vatican said.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict on Friday that he would do everything possible to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Vatican said.

WASHINGTON - Republicans will use next week's high-profile Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to raise concerns about her record on race, gun rights and abortion while Democrats work to defend President Barack Obama's first high court choice as a mainstream judge who sticks to the law.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Giving the "abortion pill" orally instead of vaginally and with antibiotics cut the risk of serious infection and death by 93 percent, researchers at Planned Parenthood reported on Wednesday.