WASHINGTON – A bill that would make it a crime to take a pregnant girl across state lines for an abortion without her parents’ knowledge passed the Senate on Tuesday, but vast differences with the House version stood between the measure and President Bush’s desk.

The 65-34 vote gave the Senate’s approval to the bill, which would make taking a pregnant girl to another state for the purposes of evading parental notification laws punishable by fines and up to a year in jail.

The girl and her parents would be exempt from prosecution, and the bill contains an exception for abortions performed in this manner that posed a threat to the mother’s life.

Republican sponsors, defending their majority, said the bill supports what a majority of the public believes: that a parent’s right to know takes precedence over a young woman’s right to have an abortion.

“No parent wants anyone to take their children across state lines or even across the street without their permission,” said Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “This is a fundamental right, and the Congress is right to uphold it in law.”

Bowing to public support for parental notification and the GOP’s 55-44-1 majority, Democrats spent the day trying to carve out an exemption for confidants to whom a girl with abusive parents might turn for help. It was rejected in floor negotiations.

Democrats complained that the measure was the latest in a series of bills designed chiefly to energize the GOP’s base of conservative voters.

“Congress ought to have higher priorities than turning grandparents into criminals,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

Significant differences exist between the Senate bill and a measure passed by the House last year.

Unlike the Senate bill, the House measure sets out a national parental notification law. It would require a physician who knowingly performs an abortion on a minor who is a resident of another state to provide a parent of the minor with at least 24 hours notice before the procedure.

Polls suggest there is widespread public backing for the bill, with almost three-quarters of respondents saying a parent has the right to give consent before a child under 18 has an abortion.

Washington, Oregon, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and the District of Columbia do not have such parental notification or consent laws.

No one knows how many girls get abortions in this way, or who helps them. But Democrats say the policy would be dangerous to pregnant teens who have abusive or neglectful parents by discouraging other people from helping them.