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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992                   TAG: 9203060354
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE TO RETHINK AGE IN ABORTION CONSENT BILL

But the House rejected a Senate provision that reduced the age of the girls affected. The original measure called for parental consent for girls younger than 18, but a Senate floor amendment made the bill apply only to girls younger than 16.

The bill now goes back to the Senate for consideration of the age issue. If the Senate backs down from its position, the bill will go directly to Gov. Douglas Wilder. If the Senate insists on keeping the age at 16, the matter goes to a conference committee.

Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach and House sponsor of the bill, asked that the Senate's age amendment be rejected. That indicates he believes he has 21 senators willing to back down on the age issue.

Anne Kincaid, spokeswoman for the Family Foundation, said rejecting the age amendment was a big gamble.

"It's still Las Vegas in the Senate tomorrow," she said.

Del. Leslie Byrne, D-Falls Church, called parental notification "a punitive measure" that would force pregnant teen-agers to get illegal or out-of-state abortions.

"If anyone thinks this is going to affect the abortion rate, they're wrong," she said.

But most of the debate focused not on the provision itself, but on how it reached the House floor for the second time.

A separate parental notification bill passed the House earlier in the session but was killed by a Senate committee. Another Senate committee revived the proposal as an amendment to McDonnell's bill dealing with juvenile court jurisdiction.

The committee overturned a ruling by its chairman that the amendment was not germane to the original bill. The committee passed the bill, and Lt. Gov. Don Beyer ruled on the Senate floor that the amendment was not germane. Again, the ruling was reversed by the Senate.

"We are piece-by-piece dismantling the process," said House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton.

But Del. Clinton Miller, R-Woodstock, said all legislative rules were followed. "Just because it doesn't work the way you want it to work doesn't mean the system isn't working," he said.

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