Nation IN BRIEF : TEXAS : Referendum Puts Abortion to Test

Voters in Corpus Christi, Tex., a heavily Roman Catholic city, resoundingly rejected a city charter amendment that would have declared “human life begins at conception.” The vote was 62% against the measure and 38% in favor. The “Human Family Amendment” was strongly backed by abortion opponents who placed the referendum on the ballot through a petition drive. For more than a year, abortion battles have consumed this Gulf Coast city of nearly 300,000. Bishop Rene Gracida, who has excommunicated two abortion clinic employees and a doctor who performs abortions, backed the proposal.