THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210858
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 109 lines
Starting July 1, minors will be barred from getting abortions in Virginia unless their parents are notified first.
A parental notification bill - the subject of 18 years of bickering in the Virginia General Assembly - cleared the House of Delegates on Thursday, 74-26, and sailed into the welcoming arms of Gov. George F. Allen, long a proponent of the measure.
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 press conference called 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 of a provision that allowed for the notification of grandparents or other family members in lieu of parents. The passage of the bill Thursday, he said, was a ``vindication'' of his decision to do so.
Allen's jubilance was not shared by all.
The new law will force girls to either 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, predicted Karen Raschke, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood.
``The girls who aren't going to tell their parents aren't going to tell their parents because of this,'' she said.
``The governor presupposes that girls in Virginia know the law. 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, Raschke said. The organization's chances of prevailing in such a fight are ``less than 50-50,'' she said. ``But it's not frivolous.''
The bill defines the notification process:
The minor must bring a parent to her doctor's office or else 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.
Both 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 will requires the doctor to report her case to the state Department of Social Services.
Parental notification has been debated in Virginia for 18 years - ever since Sen. Joseph V. Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax, first proposed the idea in 1979. But 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.
All that changed in the House of Delegates on Thursday, when a substitute bill with a grandparents clause was killed and the original bill approved in less than five minutes. Observers, settling down for the traditional hours of rhetoric, grandstanding and passionate speechmaking on the subject, were stunned by the bill's quick passage.
``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 - which was virtually the same bill - 62-38. Fourteen delegates - 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 Halifax Democrat William W. Bennett, Jr.
``I didn't want to sacrifice the whole bill just because I didn't get my way,'' said Springfield Republican David B. Albo. ``In this business, you can't always get everything you want.''
Portsmouth Democrat Kenneth Melvin, a long-time opponent of parental notification, chalked it up to exhaustion.
``I think truly what you saw is the collapse of the will to fight,'' he said. ``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, fended off an ambush of reporters in the Capitol hallways after the House votes. He returned to the Senate floor to a barrage of handshakes and backslaps from the Republican side of the chamber.
``It's a tremendous victory,'' Earley 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 press conference, Earley echoed the governor's hope that the bill will impede teen-age sex.
``The hope is that it's going to reduce teenage pregnancies,'' he said. ``If minor girls know they're going to be held accountable, perhaps they'll behave more responsibly.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
HOW THE LOCAL DELEGATES VOTED
William K. Barlow, D-Smithfield, Y
Robert S. Bloxom, R-Mappsville, Y
Glenn R. Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, Y
Thelma Drake, R-Norfolk, Y
Randy J. Forbes, R-Chesapeake Y
George H. Heilig Jr., D-Norfolk, Y
Robert F. McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, Y
William S. Moore, D-Portsmouth, Y
Thomas W. Moss, D-Norfolk, Y
Robert Nelms, R-Suffolk, Y
Harry R. Purkey, R-Virginia Beach, Y
Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake, Y
Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach, Y
Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, Y
Leo C. Wardrup, R-Virginia Beach, Y
Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk, N
Kenneth R. Melvin, D-Portsmouth, N
William P. Robinson, D-Norfolk, N
KEYWORDS: ABORTION GENERAL ASSEMBLY