THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 31, 1997 TAG: 9701310603
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: This article was written by staff writers Robert Little and
Laura LaFay, with contributions from The Associated Press.
LENGTH: 140 lines
The Senate Education and Health Committee voted 9-5 on Thursday against a bill that would have banned a ``partial-birth'' abortion procedure.
Sponsored by Sen. Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake, the bill would have prohibited abortions performed by partially delivering a live fetus vaginally, then killing it.
Earley called the procedure ``the closest thing to infanticide that we could invent.''
The procedure described in the bill apparently is not done in Hampton Roads, according to people in the local medical community.
Opponents said such a procedure is virtually never performed, but that the bill might be interpreted to prohibit other legal abortions. Regardless, they said it would intimidate doctors who perform standard abortions by threatening court action to prove their procedure is legal.
``Why can't we trust women?'' asked Spotsylvania Sen. Edward Houck, a Democrat. ``Why is it we always portray women to be these villains? Why would we want to put the government in the middle of a woman trying to wrestle with that decision?''
A registered nurse from Dayton, Ohio, testified before Thursday's vote that she has witnessed the partial-birth procedure. Brenda Pratt Shafer has since become an activist, appearing before Congress and legislative committees to denounce the procedure.
She described a doctor pulling a fetus from a mother by the feet then using a suction tube to remove its brain.
``I saw him kicking his little feet and moving his little hands and fingers, and then the doctor took a pair of scissors and plunged them into his neck,'' Shafer said.
Several opponents said they tried to find a woman who had undergone the partial-birth procedure but could not. They played a video showing a woman forced to undergo a late-term abortion because of deformities killing her unborn child.
``No one would want to go through what we went through,'' the woman said.
Earley's bill was nearly identical to one that passed Congress last year and was vetoed by President Clinton. He promised to bring the bill back next year if Congress doesn't pass a federal law.
ALSO TUESDAY
The Senate Education and Health Committee approved a bill to prohibit health maintenance organizations from paying physicians a commission or rebate to convince doctors to switch to a medicine other than the one prescribed.
The Education and Health Committee also approved a bill that would prohibit pharmacies from giving patients drugs that are chemically different than what doctors prescribe simply because they are cheaper.
With a 12-2 vote, the committee sent the ``drug-switching'' bill to the full Senate.
Health care companies argued that the switches aren't being made without doctors' consent, and that they simply offer a way to take advantage of bulk-sale prices and reduced consumer costs.
The Senate voted 33-6 to pass a bill rewriting the unemployment insurance tax formula to save businesses $200 million over six years.
The Senate Education and Health Committee approved and referred to another committee legislation imposing a $12.50 surcharge on speeding tickets and a $25 surcharge on drunken driving and reckless driving convictions, with the proceeds going to spinal cord injury research.
The Senate voted 20-18 to pass a bill requiring drivers to turn on their headlights whenever their windshield wipers are in use because of fog, rain, sleet or snow.
A movement to weaken the governor's power to appoint State Council of Higher Education members is still on the move, but barely.
The House voted 50-46 to send the bill to the next step for a final vote, likely on Friday.
Gov. George F. Allen said through a spokeswoman that he likely will veto the bill if it passes.
The governor now appoints all 11 members of the education council. The bill by Del. Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, would give the governor six appointments and the legislature's Joint Rules Committee five.
Diamonstein said the Allen-dominated council has not supplied reliable information to the General Assembly. Republicans said the bill is a partisan slap at Allen.
NOTICED AND NOTED
Thursday morning, newspapers across the country carried the news that the respected New England Journal of Medicine came out in favor of allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes.
Thursday afternoon, Virginia's delegates overwhelmingly repealed a 1979 law allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for cancer or glaucoma patients.
The bill by Del. Robert Marshall, R-Prince William, sailed through the House 86-13 and now goes to the Senate.
Virginia's law was largely forgotten until California and Arizona passed similar measures. The Clinton Administration threatened to revoke the prescription-writing privileges of doctors in those states if they prescribe marijuana.
White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey has endorsed the repeal of Virginia's law.
Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, acknowledged that Marshall's bill is likely to please the general public in a year when all 100 House seats will be up for election. But he said repealing medical marijuana might not be the right thing to do.
``This law has been on the books since '79, and it hasn't caused a problem,'' he said.
Del. Kenneth Melvin, D-Portsmouth, agreed. He said the bill is ``a knee-jerk reaction to something going on on the other coast.''
But Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, said the same compound that supposedly gives medical value to smoked marijuana is available in tablet form. And he said other, more effective, drugs are available for cancer and glaucoma patients.
Gov. George F. Allen supports the bill.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
``There are not enough pine trees in this commonwealth to provide the pulp needed for the number of studies that are going on today.''
- Sen. Charles Hawkins, R-Chatham, responding to the suggestion that one of his bills be studied for a year.
WHAT'S NEXT
Today's floor sessions begin at noon. The House plans a Saturday floor session.
With the deadline for each house to act on its own bills looming Tuesday, legislators are putting in long hours to deal with the 2,950 bills that faced them in this 46-day session. Some committees and subcommittees are meeting as early as 7 a.m., others as late as 8 p.m.
STAYING IN TOUCH
See Pilot Online's Virginia Voter Net to read and track bills, check local legislators' contact information and legislation, and review Pilot coverage. The Web address is
http://www.pilotonline.com/voter/ ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
State Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, addresses the Senate Education
and Health Committee during a public hearing Thursday on his bill to
outlaw partial-birth abortions.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997