Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 15, 1994 TAG: 9402150220
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROB EURE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The restriction advanced on a 73-21 vote, thanks to unexpected support from abortion opponents. A final House vote on the bill is set for today.
After passing a series of Republican-sponsored amendments tightening the requirements for a doctor to notify parents or another family member before the procedure, Del. Linda Puller, D-Mount Vernon, suggested including the parents of fathers, when known.
When abortion rights delegates saw support from the most conservative anti-abortion voters, they began cheering. Puller's amendment passed 76-21 as Speaker Thomas Moss of Norfolk began laughing into his microphone.
Del. Clinton Miller, R-Woodstock, who succeeded in several amendments restricting notification to family members only, put his head down on his desk in disgust.
The action followed a two-hour debate, in which one abortion opponent termed abortion clinic workers "abortion sales girls," another questioned whether pro-choice Democrats would allow witches to satisfy notification requirements, and opponents of the measure warned that it would drive young girls to seek the procedure illegally.
The victory for abortion-rights delegates may be short-lived, though. Miller has his own bill held in reserve for floor action today so he can lobby against the paternal requirement.
More liberal members of the House - in past years staunchly opposed to any parental notification bill but conceding their minority status - decided to sponsor their own measure this year in hopes of passing a more "compassionate" bill, according to sponsor Del. Shirley Cooper, D-Yorktown. Her measure allows a woman under age 18 to notify a parent, minister, or a counselor of her decision to seek an abortion. A doctor disregarding the law would be subject to a $500 fine.
Miller succeeded in stripping alternatives for notifying anyone other than parents or legal guardians. However, Del. Anne Rhodes, R-Richmond, won an amendment allowing women to substitute other adult family members or parents to comply with the law.
Both Miller's and Cooper's bills include provisions for a judge to waive the notification requirement if he decides the young woman is mature enough to make her own decision or if he believes telling her parents would endanger her.
The annual debate over requiring notification of a minor's parents takes on added dimensions this year because Gov. George Allen has promised to sign an appropriate measure.
The battle for the measure - as in past years - hinges on the Senate, where the panel that routinely kills parental notification bills did so again Monday with a Senate-sponsored version.
By an 8-7 vote, the Senate Education and Health Committee killed the legislation for the seventh time in the past eight years.
Supporters hardly seemed discouraged, vowing to bypass the hostile panel and bring the matter to the Senate floor.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB