HOUSE SHIFTS ON FUNDS FOR ABORTIONS

The House agreed Wednesday to allow federally paid abortions for poor women who are victims of rape or incest, reversing nearly a decade of more restrictive votes and inviting a veto from President Bush. By a 216-to-206 vote, the House rejected the language it has kept in the law since 1981 and instead endorsed a more liberal provision already passed by the Senate.

Federal aid for abortions is now limited to poor women whose lives have been endangered by a pregnancy.