Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990 TAG: 9007280198
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: BATON ROUGE, LA. LENGTH: Medium
The veto was a major setback to anti-abortion activists who had hoped the bill might lead to a test of the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
Roemer, who describes himself as "pro-life," said the bill "does not meet even the minimum standards set by me long ago." He went on to criticize the state legislators who rushed the anti-abortion bill through by grafting it to another that banned flag burning.
The bill would have prohibited abortions except to save the life of the mother and in cases of aggravated rape and incest reported to police and a physician no more than a week after they occurred. Doctors who performed illegal abortions could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $100,000.
Roemer said, among other things, that a seven-day period for reporting a rape was unreasonable and that the bill did not take "simple rape" into account at all, defined as situations where a woman is incapable of resisting, such as when she is drunk or drugged or mentally incapacitated.
Roemer also said the vetoed bill was too vague and did not answer such questions as who, besides the doctor, might be held liable if an abortion is performed. The liability could be interpreted to include relatives who, for instance, paid for the operation, he said.
Anti-abortion legislators in Louisiana said they would attempt to call a special session Aug. 18 to attempt a veto override, and might even attempt to revive the first, tougher bill. But the majority of both houses must agree by mail to such a meeting, and no special session to override a veto has ever been held in the state.
The veto marked yet another chapter in Louisiana's highly charged controversy over the abortion issue. Earlier in the legislative session Roemer vetoed an even tougher bill that would have allowed an abortion only to save the life of the mother. An attempted override failed by only three votes.
It also marked the second time this year that anti-abortion forces have been thwarted by a Democratic governor they had long considered an ally. In March, Gov. Cecil Andrus of Idaho vetoed anti-abortion legislation that also presented a direct challenge to Roe vs. Wade.
by CNB