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

DATE: MONDAY, March 2, 1992                   TAG: 9203020250
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

PARENTAL NOTIFICATION REVIVED FULL SENATE WILL VOTE ON ABORTION ISSUE

Legislation to require parental notification when an unmarried minor seeks an abortion was revived Sunday night as an amendment to a bill dealing with juvenile courts.

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted 10-5 to adopt the amendment, then sent the bill to the Senate floor on an identical vote.

"We're delighted to get the bill to the Senate floor," Fiona Givens, director of the Virginia Society for Human Life, said after the vote. "That's where it needs to be. The majority of Virginians want this."

Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, offered the amendment. The proposal is identical to a bill passed 64-35 by the House of Delegates and killed 10-5 by the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Sen. Edward Holland, D-Arlington and chairman of the committee, ruled the amendment was not germane to the bill. However, the committee voted 8-7 to overrule his decision.

Karen Raschke of Planned Parenthood of Virginia urged the committee to defeat the bill.

"This is a health issue," she said. "This is not the committee to hear it."

The bill includes a provision that allows a girl to bypass the parental notification requirement if a judge rules she is mature enough to make the decision on her own. It was that "judicial bypass" aspect that allowed Earley to tack the proposal onto the bill dealing with juvenile court jurisdiction.

Earlier, the committee voted 9-6 to kill a bill aimed at cracking down on protesters who block abortion clinics. Fairfax Del. Leslie Byrne's bill would have made a second offense of blocking access to a health facility a felony.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY

by CNB