THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040288
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 87 lines
Anti-abortion forces scored a ground-breaking victory Monday, quietly displaying a lawmaking majority that could ensure new restrictions on abortions in Virginia.
The state Senate voted 26-14 to prohibit a doctor from performing an abortion for 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 by wide margins. A nearly identical parental-notification bill was one of them.
Last year the issue tangled the General Assembly in a day-long parliamentary debate, but this year it barely raised eyebrows. The Virginia legislature this year solidly supports more restrictive access to abortions, and 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.''
As she spoke, her fellow opponents seemed resigned to defeat. Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw was chatting with Senate pages.
The bill would prohibit a doctor from performing an abortion on a minor unless the physician knows that she has told a parent or guardian. Judges could override the requirement in cases of abuse. Doctors who violate 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 B. Miller said she received so many letters and calls supporting it that she decided to vote yes.
Her vote was a surprise, said the bill's sponsor, Chesapeake Sen. Mark L. Earley. 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.
``I'm cautiously optimistic,'' Earley said of his bill's future in the House.
A majority of Virginia legislators has favored parental-notification legislation for several years.
But the law has been kept off the books either by 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.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
HOW THEY VOTED
The Senate voted 26-14 for a bill requiring that a minor's parent
be notified before she can receive an abortion:
Local legislators who voted YES:
Richard J. Holland,
D-Isle of Wight
Yvonne B. Miller, D-Norfolk
Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake
Thomas K. Norment Jr.,
R-James City
Frederick M. Quayle,
R-Chesapeake
Edward L. Schrock,
R-Virginia Beach
Kenneth W. Stolle,
R-Virginia Beach
KEYWORDS: PARENTAL CONSENT ABORTION GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997
PROPOSED BILL