Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 2, 1991 TAG: 9102020274
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A6 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: THOMAS BOYER LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
A resolution urging Congress to pass an abortion rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed 50-43 in a vote that went largely along party lines.
The measure, which now goes to the state Senate, had little practical effect except to force rank-and-file legislators to cast recorded votes that could help or haunt them in November.
"It's time to draw our line in the sand," said the sponsor, Del. Leslie Byrne, D-Falls Church. "I would ask, to assure reproductive freedom in the United States, that we adopt this resolution."
It made for a "yes" vote most Democrats were happy to cast. "From every poll I've ever seen, that is the majority view," said Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk.
Republicans largely voted "no," but contended it was a poor indication of one's position on abortion.
Del. Steven Agee, R-Salem, who has a generally abortion rights voting record, said he voted "no" because "that sort of thing doesn't belong in a constitutional amendment."
"This is purely a political effort," Agee said. "The Democrats are so desperate. . . . They're trying to find something they can use in the fall to take attention away from the record of the Wilder administration and their part in it."
Byrne's resolution expresses support for the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized most abortions. It calls for a federal constitutional amendment barring any law that "denies the right to privacy to any adult woman and interferes with her choice to terminate her pregnancy through the first two trimesters [six months]."
Del. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, an advocate of abortion controls, tried unsuccessfully to delay the vote. "This is an issue that deserves much more debate than we're giving it. If [the resolution] were to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the debate would probably ensue for hours. Those who are for abortion rights would be jumping on their desks."
It could be the only vote on abortion the House casts this year. A bill proposed by Hanger, which would require a parent to be notified before a girl under 18 can obtain an abortion, so far has failed to muster enough support in committee to reach the House floor.
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