ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
Anti-abortion groups scored a ground-breaking victory Monday, quietly displaying a lawmaking majority that should ensure new restrictions on abortions in Virginia.
The state Senate voted 26-14 to prohibit doctors from performing an abortion on a minor unless her parent or guardian is notified.
Supporters didn't even offer debate on the Senate floor, the measure's passage was so certain. Several women senators voiced objections, but their colleagues milled about the floor or chatted in the Senate lounge until the vote was called.
The parental notification bill will be considered next in the House of Delegates, where three anti-abortion bills cleared an initial vote last weekend - all by wide margins. A nearly identical parental notification bill was one of them.
The issue that last year tangled the General Assembly in a daylong parliamentary debate this year barely raised eyebrows. The Virginia legislature this year is solidly in support of more restrictive access to abortions, and even the opponents know it.
"Sometimes when you know the outcome, it's easy not to say anything," said Fairfax Sen. Janet Howell. "But that wouldn't seem right.
"Every member of the Senate who's a mother, a stepmother or a grandmother is in opposition to this bill. How can that be? It is because we believe this bill is not helpful to families. It is destructive to families."
The bill would require any woman younger than 18 to notify a parent or guardian before legally receiving an abortion. Judges could override the requirement in cases of abuse. Doctors who violated the law would be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Opponents said the bill would force young women in unstable families to seek dangerous, illegal abortions, or to leave Virginia to bypass the law.
"It simply does not recognize real-life situations," said Arlington Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple. "The vast majority of young women do notify their parents. So this is directed at the small number who don't - and often for very good reasons."
Only one of the seven women who serve in the Senate voted for the bill. Norfolk Sen. Yvonne Miller said she has received so many letters and phone calls supporting it that she decided to vote yes.
Her vote was a surprise, said Chesapeake Sen. Mark Earley, sponsor of the bill. But because he was able to steer the bill around the unfriendly Education and Health Committee this year, Earley had all the votes he needed.
A majority of Virginia legislators have favored parental notification legislation for several years. But the law has been kept off the books by either lopsided opposition at the committee level or a gubernatorial veto.
Last year, separate parental notification bills passed each house only to die in the other.
The House Courts of Justice Committee voted over the weekend in favor of a bill banning a specific "partial birth" abortion procedure. The Senate Education and Health Committee killed a similar bill last week, but will get another chance if the House version passes.
The House committee also supported by a vote of 16 to 5 a change to the state's informed consent law. It would require doctors to discuss alternatives with patients who want abortions and to tell them the "probable gestational age of the unborn child."
HOW THEY VOTED |On a bill requiring minors to notify their parents before undergoing a abortion. The bill passed the Senate 26-14 and now goes to the House of Delegates.
John Edwards, D-Roanoke - No
Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta County - Yes
Madison Marye, D-Shawsville - No
Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg - Yes
Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield - Yes
Roscoe Reynolds, D-Henry County - Yes
Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle - Yes
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB