Briefs 11/20/2013

• Albuquerque rejects late-term abortion ban

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Voters in New Mexico's largest city soundly defeated a ban on late-term abortions Tuesday in a municipal election that was being closely watched as a possible new front in the national abortion fight.

Voters rejected the measure 55 percent to 45 percent following an emotional and graphic campaign that brought in national groups and hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising. The campaign included protests that compared abortion to the Holocaust and displayed pictures of aborted fetuses.

A coalition of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Planned Parenthood, called the results a huge victory for Albuquerque women and families.

"Albuquerque families sent a powerful message today - they do not want the government interfering in their private medical decisions," Micaela Cadena with the Respect ABQ Women campaign said in a statement. "Dangerous, unconstitutional laws like the one we rejected today have no place in Albuquerque, no place in New Mexico, no place anywhere in our nation."

Activists on both sides of the issue said it was the first municipal ballot measure on the matter, which usually is debated at the state and federal level. Abortion opponents hoped a victory in Albuquerque would create momentum nationally in their long-running fight to ban abortion.

• Obama plunges ahead on Iran nuclear talks

WASHINGTON - On the eve of new talks, President Barack Obama is plunging ahead in search of a nuclear agreement with Iran despite outright opposition from American allies in the Middle East and deep skepticism, if not open hostility, from Congress.

Iran is pressing ahead in its own way, trying to make a deal more likely to ease painful economic sanctions without losing its own hardliners at home.

There was a fresh sign of efforts to make headway as negotiators from Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany prepared for Wednesday's new round of talks in Geneva. British Prime Minister David Cameron contacted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the first such conversation between the leaders of the two countries in more than a decade.

Cameron's office said the leaders agreed during their telephone conversation that significant progress had been made in recent talks and that it was important to "seize the opportunity" in this week's new negotiations.

• Gay marriage Methodist pastor remains defiant

SPRING CITY, Pa. - A United Methodist minister convicted under church law of officiating at his son's same-sex wedding was suspended for 30 days on Tuesday but remained defiant, saying he refuses to change his views, even if it means permanently losing his credentials.

The same jury of fellow pastors that convicted Rev. Frank Schaefer on Monday of breaking his vows also told him he must surrender his credentials if he can't reconcile his new calling to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community with the laws from the church's Book of Discipline.

Schaefer told reporters afterward that he had no intention of changing his mind and said he expects to lose his credentials in 30 days.

Before the punishment was announced, Schaefer, who was convicted for officiating at his son's 2007 wedding ceremony in Massachusetts, told the jury that he is unrepentant and refused to promise he wouldn't perform more gay unions.

Rather than beg for mercy, the pastor upped the stakes.

- The Associated Press