Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993 TAG: 9302070131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Gred Schneider
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
ABORTION PILL RESOLUTION PASSES
A long, grinding floor session of the House of Delegates came to a head Friday over the unlikely topic of the controversial French drug RU-486, known as the abortion pill.Del. Julia Connally, D-Arlington, introduced a resolution calling on the president and Congress to make the drug available for research and development in the United States.
Connally said the drug, while marketed as a type of birth control, is also thought to be useful in treating breast cancer, prostate cancer and other illnesses.
Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, responded with a 20-minute mini-filibuster against the drug and the resolution. Marshall claimed RU-486 would actually worsen breast cancer, has no special value in treating prostate cancer and actually is a means for abortion doctors to drum up more business.
With the day's session already 4 1/2 hours old and with a full weekend of work before them, weary delegates were in no mood to listen.
Some interrupted Marshall to ask him to stop. "Can the speaker give me some idea of the length of his remarks so I can see if I have time to go get a soda pop?" asked House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Vinton.
"You can get a hamburger, too," Marshall responded, speaking into another delegate's microphone because his own was broken.
Del. Clifton Woodrum, D-Roanoke, tried to silence Marshall with House Rule 54, which requires that a delegate speak from his own seat. Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, ruled that the broken microphone was an exception, but urged Woodrum to keep looking for another tactic.
Delegates, including some of Marshall's fellow Republicans, finally just rose from their seats and stood in the back of the House chamber, leaving Marshall to speak to a room in which two-thirds of the seats were empty. When he ended his passionate speech against the resolution, the voice vote was quick and resounding - to pass it.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993