Competing abortion bills before the U.S. Senate

Denise Burke has this post on the Americans United for Life blog. She writes:

In what is shaping up to be a pivotal and unpredictable election year, abortion and its negative impact on women have only infrequently been mentioned as important issues in the Presidential campaign. However, they remain critical and divisive issues in Congress where competing bills were recently introduced.

On April 2, Senators David Vitter (R-LA), George Voinovich (R-OH), and Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduced the Pregnant Women Health and Safety Act.

The measure would require that abortion providers have admitting privileges at a hospital in close vicinity to the abortion facility; that abortion providers notify women of the location of a local hospital where they can receive follow-up medical treatment in the event of post-abortion complications; and that any abortion center receiving federal funding be licensed and comply with current requirements for ambulatory surgery centers.