
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990                   TAG: 9004060702
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ABORTION/ POLITICAL REALITY FOR STATES

LEGISLATIVE decisions about women's reproductive rights are no simple matter, even for politicians who have the voters on their side. Idaho is an arch-conservative state and Gov. Cecil Andrus is an abortion foe, but he decided the other day that he had to veto a measure to ban most abortion. He couldn't accept provisions that could have denied abortions in cases of rape or incest.

The intent of the Idaho bill, the most restrictive passed by a state legislature in recent years, was to eliminate abortion as a means of birth control. But it would have done more than that. Victims of rape could have received abortions only if the crime were reported within seven days. The alleged rapist could have obtained a court order to prevent an abortion from being performed. In cases of incest, abortions would have been permitted only if a crime had been reported to authorities and the victim was under 18.

Andrus waited until the legislature had adjourned before vetoing the bill, so his action couldn't be overridden. The veto might cost him politically. He was hailed as courageous by abortion-rights advocates. In a state such as Idaho, that might be a kiss of death politically. Accolades from the abortion-rights camp won't help him regain the good graces of his anti-abortion following.

Idaho is one of the few states where a bill got through the legislature, but abortion came up in capitols across the country. Legislators who found themselves in the center of the raging debate could thank the Supreme Court, which last summer broadened the limits that states may place on abortions.

Since that decision, however, abortion legislation has passed in only three places: Guam, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Guam enacted a near ban, but a court stayed enforcement. Courts also prevented enforcement of Pennsylvania's restrictions. South Carolina's bill was a parental-consent measure.

Abortion likely will command center stage in many state legislatures until the Supreme Court gives clear guidance on what restrictions will be allowed. Even then, it won't go away. No matter what form the law takes, some people are going to want to change it. This issue deeply disturbs many people on both sides.

by CNB