ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: LAURA FAFAY STAFF WRITER
Starting July 1, minors will be barred from abortions in Virginia unless their parents are notified first.
A parental notification law - the subject of 18 years of fighting in the General Assembly - cleared the House of Delegates Thursday and sailed into the welcoming arms of Gov. George Allen, a longtime proponent.
The new law, which will apply to unmarried girls under 18, will result in "fewer pregnancies, fewer abortions and better families," Allen said at a news conference minutes after the vote. "This is a tremendous victory for the people of Virginia," he beamed. "We have an honest, true parental notification bill."
Allen vetoed a parental notification bill in 1994 because it allowed for the notification of grandparents or other family members in lieu of parents. Passage of the bill Thursday, he said, was a "vindication" of the earlier veto.
Karen Raschke, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood, predicted dire consequences. She said the new law will force girls to induce their own miscarriages or abortions, travel to the District of Columbia for abortions or wait until the second trimester - when abortion is more difficult - before they do anything.
"The governor presupposes that girls in Virginia know the law," Raschke said. "If we really believe this will work, then why wait until they're pregnant? Why not pass a law requiring them to notify their parents before they have sex?"
Planned Parenthood plans to challenge the law in court, although its chances of winning are "less than 50-50," she said. "But it's not frivolous."
The bill defines the notification process:
* The girl must bring a parent to her doctor's office or give the doctor a witnessed note from at least one parent, or:
* She can ask the doctor to notify her parent by phone or in person 24 hours before the scheduled procedure. The doctor can also notify a parent by certified mail 72 hours before the procedure, or:
* She can choose to notify a judge who must then decide if she is capable of the decision. If so, the judge will notify the doctor.
* Parental and judicial authorization can be waived in cases of abuse and neglect or to avert death, impairment or injury. However, if a girl tells her doctor she is abused or neglected, the law requires the doctor to report her case to the state Department of Social Services.
Parental notification has been debated in Virginia since Sen. Joseph Gartlan, D-Fairfax, proposed the idea in 1979. Each year, the measure has died in the legislature or been vetoed by the governor because lawmakers have never been able to agree on the details.
That changed in the House of Delegates Thursday, when a substitute bill with a grandparents clause was killed and the original bill was approved in less than five minutes.
"They had it greased like a carnival pig," said Petersburg Democrat Jay DeBoer, one of 26 delegates who voted no.
Two weeks ago, delegates voted 81-18 in favor of a parental notification bill with a grandparents clause. But they defeated Thursday's substitute, virtually the same bill, 62-38. Seven Democrats and seven Republicans changed their votes.
"I just decided we needed to go ahead and get a bill and put the thing to rest," said one of those 14, Halifax Democrat William Bennett.
"In this business, you can't always get everything you want," said Springfield Republican David Albo. "I didn't want to sacrifice the whole bill just because I didn't get my way,"
Portsmouth Democrat Kenneth Melvin, a longtime opponent of parental notification, chalked it up to exhaustion:
"I think truly what you saw is the collapse of the will to fight. This piece of legislation has been fought hour after hour, session after session. Opponents just said the heck with it."
Chesapeake Sen. Mark Earley, the Republican who sponsored the bill and guided its passage, said, "I feel certain that it's the people of Virginia's belief that when these decisions are made parents ought to be in the know - they ought to be advised, not left out in the cold."
Later, at Allen's news conference, Earley echoed the governor's hope that the bill will impede teenage sex.
"The hope is that it's is going to reduce teenage pregnancies," he said. "If minor girls know they're going to be held accountable, perhaps they'll behave more responsibly."
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB