IP: Congress and "Abortion"

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Posted-Date: Sat, 3 Feb 1996 16:31:13 -0500
From: "Craig A. Johnson" <caj () tdrs com>
To: farber () central cis upenn edu


Dave,


FYI. The bill's "abortion" issue is still alive.


Craig


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+
by Craig A. Johnson
American Reporter Correspondent
Washington
2/2/96
telecom act


       IS ABORTION DISCUSSION BANNED ONLINE?
     by Craig A. Johnson
    American Reporter Correspondent


 WASHINGTON--Representative Pat Schroeder (D-CO) found a seam of
"fool's gold" in the "The Telecommunications Act of 1996," passed
yesterday by overwhelming margins in both the House and Senate.  
 "Under the guise of criminalizing obscenity, the bill as it is now
written includes the most egregious gag rule about abortion-related speech
Congress has ever seen," Schroeder said in a press release.
 In direct contrast to her fellow liberal Democrat Ed Markey
(D-MA), who said the bill was a "blueprint for the American superhighway
of the 21st century," which "uses competition as its soul," Schroeder
spoke to the black heart of the online censorship provisions.  
 Calling the proceedings "a sad day," in American politics, and
demonstrably unsatisfied by Representative Henry Hyde's (R-IL) false
assurances that online discussions of abortion were constitutionally
protected and would not be impacted by the bill's censorship provisions,
Schroeder fired off a series of hardball questions which the bill
champions blithely ignored. 
 "What happens [when users discuss topics such as abortion]
internationally via the Internet?  Does the Constitution follow [them]
through the lines?  What about telemedicine?  We don't have an answer,"
she charged.  She said that the conference committee "had the time to
clear up all the technical details, but didn't have time to [clarify the
Internet restrictions which are] such a significant part of the economy." 
 The lawmakers were intent on "rushing this gag rule through ...,"
said Schroeder.  "We are coming up with things that we are going to live by
for the next 50 years," she remonstrated, and asked members if it would
not have been more responsible to have worked through the next few weeks
in February to clarify such critical matters instead of rushing home to
their districts in a self-congratulatory trance. 
 The bill passed yesterday ignited a brief firestorm of controversy
as a result of the sleeper language in Section 507 of the bill, which
extends the current provisions of Section 1462 of title 18 of the U.S.
Criminal Code, which covers abortion-related issues to "interactive
computer services." 
 The measure, as printed in the conference report, shortly to be
sent to President Clinton to sign, seems to flatly contradict Hyde's claim
that online abortion discussions would not be prohibited by the law. 
 Section 1462 of title 18, as amended, states: "Whoever brings into
the United States, or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or
knowingly uses any express company or other common carrier, or interactive
computer service, as defined in section 230(e)2 of the Communications Act
of 1934, for carriage in interstate or foreign commerce--
    (a) any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book, pamphlet,
    picture, motion-picture film, paper, letter, writing, print, or
    other matter of indecent character; or 
    (b) any obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy phonograph
    recording, electrical transcription, or other article or thing
    capable of producing sound; or 
    (c) any drug, medicine, article, or thing designed, adapted, or
    intended for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral
    use; or any written or printed card, letter, circular, book,
    pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving
    information, directly or indirectly, where, how, or of whom, or
    by what means any of such mentioned articles, matters, or things
    may be obtained or made; ..."
 Capitol rumors have it that this blatantly unconstitutional
provision, Sec. 1462(c) above, has been or will be modified by a
"technical change," but The American Reporter could not discover any
references to it in the six pages of "technical corrections" dated January
30, 1996 that were circulated to members yesterday before their votes. 
 In the absence of this correction, Markey's "soul of competition"
may turn out to be the Internet's "heart of darkness."  The ugly, brutish
facts are that our legislators approved this "early-term abortion" of
online civil rights by a margin of 414 to 16 in the House and a margin of
91 to 5 in the Senate. 
 While Hyde's oral mid-course correction on the floor yesterday may
be sufficient to cover the Congressional posterior in a court case, one
cannot ignore the hard-edged message coming from this Congress: Let's do
anything in our power to drop religious right-fashioned noose on the
Internet. 
 Meanwhile, a spokesman forone of the nation's largest telephone
companies acknowledged the controversy but suggested it may be muted by
examination of the context of the House debate on it.
        "Section 507 of the bill has a reference to a section of the U.S.
Code that indirectly deals with abortion," said Bill McCloskey, director
of media relations for BellSouth Corp.
      "One theory expressed by Congressional staffers is that House
Members who raised this point during the debate did it to get others to
say 'we didn't really mean that,' laying down a 'legislative history,'"
McCloskey said.
       The full text of the bill can be read at a site maintained by the
regional Bell telephone companies at http://www.bell.com. 


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