Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

JACKSON, Miss. - A Mississippi House committee voted Tuesday to ban most abortions in the state - an unexpected move that left abortion opponents grappling to stake out a position on a proposal that could prompt a lengthy court battle.

The only abortions allowed under the bill would be if the life of the pregnant woman were in danger. There would be no abortions allowed in cases of pregnancy caused by rape or incest.

... House Public Health Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, persuaded his committee to put the abortion restrictions into a Senate bill that was originally written to require that sonograms be performed early in pregnancy so the woman could hear a fetal heartbeat.

Holland said he brought up the near ban on abortion because he's tired of piecemeal attempts to add new restrictions year after year. He said he woke up about 3 a.m. Tuesday and decided to introduce his proposal, and he only told two House staff members about his plans before he made the move.

"I have a strong dilemma within myself on this," Holland said. "I can only impregnate. I can't get pregnant myself."

NAPLES, Fla. -- If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in a quiet corner of southwest Florida will be governed by strict Catholic principles, particularly when it comes to sex.

The pizza magnate, raised by nuns in orphanages, is bankrolling the town called Ave Maria with millions of dollars, calling its construction "God's will." Stores won't sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies won't carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will carry no X-rated channels, he said in a speech last year to the first annual Boston Catholic Men's Conference.

Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and promise lawsuits.

The town is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in four decades, which Monaghan also founded. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples.

The community, developed through a partnership with the Barron Collier Company, an agricultural and real estate firm, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center. It will encircle a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, standing nearly 65 feet tall.

Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues of the proposed bans. He said Monaghan would not comment until the issue is resolved.