WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 -- A Colorado congresswoman vowed Tuesday to fight a ban on abortion-related speech included in the telecommunications reform bill that sailed through Congress last week. Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., said provisions in the bill meant to clear the Internet of obscenity should not be used to ban discussions about abortion. Schroeder planned to introduce legislation this month that would delete the discussion ban from the telecom bill, which President Clinton is expected to sign this week. 'It's ridiculous, obsolete and unconstitutional to keep this ban on abortion-related speech in the law,' Schroeder said. 'By keeping it in, we create problems as we did last week when Congress extended this crazy provision to the Internet. We should just get rid of it.' At issue is the Comstock Act, a 123-year-old law covering the transportation of obscene materials. That act made it illegal to send material about birth control and abortion through the mail, and Congress extended it to the Internet in the telecom bill. Schroeder distributed a letter to her colleagues, urging their support. She said she wanted to keep the anti-obscenity clauses in the telecom bill, minus the anti-abortion provisions. The telecommunications bill cleared through the House last Thursday by a vote of 414-16, and passed the Senate 91-5 just an hour later. Congress worked on the legislation -- the first major rewrite of U.S. telecommunications law since 1934 -- for the better part of last year. Schroeder was one of the few House members to vote against the bill.
A spokeswoman said Schroeder thought more time was needed to examine all the changes made to the bill during negotiations between the House and Senate, not just the anti-abortion clause. The telecom bill opens numerous communications markets to competition from outside sources, imposes decency standards on computer networks, and institutes the 'V-Chip' to block violent or sexually suggestive television programs. Supporters of the telecom bill called its passage a 'victory' for telephone and cable consumers, since local telephone servers and cable companies would be allowed to dabble in each other's business for the first time. In addition, local telephone companies would be free to provide their customers with long-distance service, while long-distance giants such as AT&T could provide local dial-tone service for the first time in some 12 years. Increased competition would lead to lower rates, supporters said. The abortion controversy was mentioned briefly during floor debate in the House last week. After abortion-rights supporters questioned the constitutionality of a ban on speech on the Internet, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., said 'nothing in title V (of the bill) should be interpreted to inhibit free speech about the topic of abortion.' Hyde, a staunch opponent of abortion rights, later clarified his statement. 'This statutory language prohibits the use of an interactive computer service for the explicit purpose of selling, procuring or facilitating the sale of drugs, medicines or other devices intended for use in producing abortion,' he said, according to the Congressional Record. 'The statutory language is confined to those commercial activities already covered...and in no way interferes with the freedom of individuals to discuss the general topic of abortion on the Internet. '