THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300404
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 73 lines
Conservative legislators won the anti-abortion victory they have been seeking for 18 years Tuesday, clearing the way for a state law that would make minors tell their parents before getting an abortion.
With a 10-5 vote, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee sent the parental notification bill to the full Senate, which could debate it this week.
For any other legislation, committee votes are simply one event in the long process of turning bills into laws.
But the parental notification measure has cleared the other steps in the legislative process before, so Wednesday's vote was considered a significant victory for anti-abortion forces seeking the law since 1979.
``We've taken one step forward in our effort to strengthen families and protect children,'' said Sen. Mark L. Earley, the Chesapeake Republican sponsoring the bill.
The parental notification bill still faces a long journey into the lawbooks. It will be debated on the Senate floor, then face committee and floor votes in the House of Delegates if it succeeds.
But last year parental notification passed the full House and Senate easily. Abortion rights advocates are so certain of its passage they already have begun crafting a legal challenge to file when the governor signs it.
Only one thing changed this year, and it is expected to be all the measure needs: Earley wrote the bill as an amendment to juvenile laws, so its first vote came before the Courts of Justice Committee.
Historically, the bill has gone before the Education and Health committee and died. Last year, supporters bypassed that committee to get to the full Senate, but the House of Delegates refused to consider that version of the bill without it going through proper channels.
Unlike the emotional deadlock of past abortion-related debates, Wednesday's hearing was brief and decisive. Each side spoke for 10 minutes, an arrangement made in advance because of the measure's long history and certain fate.
Karen Raschke, the lobbyist for Planned Parenthood, rolled a 5-foot petition to the floor, saying it included opponents' signatures gathered in just three days. She and other opponents argued that the bill would endanger young women in broken homes and force others to seek illegal abortions in other states.
The measure would prohibit doctors from performing abortions on anyone younger than 18 unless her parents are notified, unless a judge rules otherwise. Thirty-eight states have laws requiring parental notification or consent when minors seek abortions, though 10 don't enforce them.
Raschke suggested that if the General Assembly wants to protect families, members ought to pass a law requiring teens to tell their parents when they are having sex. ``Why are we waiting until they are pregnant?'' she asked.
Only two women sit on the 15-member committee, and both voted against the bill. Last year, when parental notification passed the full Senate, all seven female members voted against it. Three Democrats and all seven Republicans on the committee voted for the bill.
``I think it's a very sad day,'' said Sen. Janet Howell, a Fairfax Democrat and one of the few senators to speak about the measure during Wednesday's meeting.
``I don't think any members of the General Assembly - male or female - have a monopoly on knowing what's right for our children and our families,'' said Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, a Virginia Beach Republican.
Earley is expected to mount another anti-abortion battle today when his bill to ban certain late-term abortions is heard before a Senate committee. That bill's prospects are not considered as bright, largely because it is before the Education and Health Committee - which killed parental notification in the past.
Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder vetoed parental notification in 1992, and Gov. George F. Allen vetoed a version in 1994 that would have let minors notify grandparents or other relatives. Earley said he won't consider this year's effort a success until it is written into the state code, considering the issue's history.
``This is certainly very encouraging,'' he said after Wednesday's vote. ``But we've been encouraged before.''
KEYWORDS: PARENTAL NOTIFICATION GENERAL ASSEMBLY